After a rather sluggish one-under opening round, Tom McKibbin came surging up the leaderboard on day two of the ISPS HANDA – CHAMPIONSHIP at Japan’s Taiheiyo Club’s Gotemba Course.
The Holywood man caught fire early in round two, going birdie, eagle, birdie on holes two through four, the eagle-three sandwiched between the par-4 second and par-3 fourth, and though he’d slow down a touch thereafter, another birdie at eight saw him make the turn at -5 for the day and -6 overall.
That quickly became -7 when he rolled in another birdie putt on the 11th, but with the wind steadily picking up, he’d cover the remaining seven in level-par, closing out with a two-putt par on 18 for a bogey-free 64 that sees him just three shots off the lead in a tie for eighth.
DP World Tour stars Sam Bairstow, Yannik Paul and Sebastian Söderberg were joined at the top of the leaderboard by Japan’s Taihei Sato, with the local favourite carding a brilliant 62.
After round one was completed early in the morning following Thursday’s fog delay, Englishman Bairstow was the man to set the target at ten under par with a 64 – eagling the 18th twice in one day as he rounded out both his first and second rounds.
But he was not alone for long as Söderberg and Paul joined him with rounds of 64 and 65 respectively, before Sato completed his eight under par effort to make it a four-way tie.
“I’ve been hitting it well for the past two days so I’m feeling good,” Sato said afterwards. “I missed the cut last year so my goal was just to make the cut. I didn’t really think about it too much, but I tried to do my best.
“I can’t say if it suits my game, but I play on the JGTO so I am used to this course. If I make good shots I can post a good score.
“The DP World Tour is a very special tour for me. As this tournament is being conducted in Japan I want to do my best and get a good result. ”
This week’s penultimate event of the Asian Swing is co-sanctioned with the Japan Golf Tour Organization and with big crowds gathered at Taiheiyo, Sato was certainly giving them something to cheer in round two.
England’s Matthew Southgate and Frenchman Tom Vaillant were then at eight under after rounds of 65 alongside Japan’s Taiki Yoshida, who had three holes to complete on day three after going out in the final group of the day.
Play will resume at 6.20 am on Saturday, with four groups still to finish their second rounds.
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