Yosuke Asaji leads field into day two
Day two of the second Asian Amateur Championship is underway with Tokyo’s Yosuke Asaji leading the way on four under par. The 17-year-old, who plays the majority of his golf at the Highland Golf Centre, a 50-bay driving range no more than 70 yards long, begins his second round from the 10th tee at 7.36am this morning.
Yesterday he completed the only bogey-free round of the day on the 7,068-yard West Course at Kasumigaseki Country Club, making four birdies in the process to take a one stroke lead.
“A Japanese amateur golfer has never played in the Masters, so if I was the first one, that would be a great honour,” he said, when asked what it would mean to win this week. “And for The Open, too, even the top Japanese pros have to go through the same qualifying process, so that would also be a great honour.”
Asaji’s leading challengers include his 18-year-old compatriot Hideki Matsuyama, who shot a round of eight-under-par 64 in the 2008 All Japan Junior High School Championship, along with Koreans Lee Jae-hyeok and Park Il-hwan, and Australia’s Jake Higginbottom. They begin their second rounds at 7.36am, 11.09am, 11.18am and 7.54am, respectively.
Last year’s runner-up, Eric Chun, opened with a two-over-par to finish the day six strokes off the lead. While disappointed with the way he played, he knows he is far from out of contention.
“I was poor of the tee, nothing really happened for me. I hung in there, though, and I didn’t lose it today. You can’t win a tournament on the first day, but you can lose it…I’ll get back into it tomorrow.”
Upon the conclusion of Friday’s play, the 118-player, 27-nation field will be cut to 60 competitors, who will advance to the weekend hoping to lift the trophy and take with it the coveted invitation to the Masters Tournament and the place in Open Championship International Final Qualifying.
