OMITAMA, Japan (AP) — Defending champion Nasa Hataoka eagled the par-5 16th for a back-nine 30 and an 8-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead Friday after two rounds of the LPGA Tour’s Toto Japan Classic.
Hataoka, who won in a playoff last year in a rain-shortened tournament, had a 36-hole total of 12-under 132 Friday.
Miyu Yamashita, who won last week’s Maybank Championship in Malaysia, pulled her tee shot on the 18th fairway which resulted in her only bogey of the day to shoot 67 and was in second place.
Ana Belac, who became the first Slovenian player on the LPGA Tour in 2021, was tied for third after a 65 with Fuka Suga (67), two strokes behind.
Hataoka, who has five top-10 finishes this season, grew up not far from the Taiheiyo Club Minori Course northeast of Tokyo.
“I don’t have a chance to play in front of so many Japanese fans, so I was really happy to be playing so well today,” Hataoka said through an interpreter.
The Japan Classic is the last of four tournaments on the LPGA’s so-called late-season Asian swing.
Ruoning Yin made a four-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole and won the LPGA Shanghai by one stroke on Oct. 18 to start the swing. In the second tournament a week later in South Korea, Yuri Yoshida won at Pine Beach Golf Links, her first LPGA Tour victory.
