After three rounds of the Toto Japan Classic, Yuna Araki and Nasa Hataoka lead the way in their home country.
Hataoka has been leading the entire way, turning in a second consecutive round of -4 68 after her first round 65. Unlike the second round, Hataoka’s round got off to a solid start.
Hataoka made three early birdies, including on the opening hole par 5. She added two more on five and six to finish the first round at -3. On the back nine, she did make a bogey on hole 14, but had birdies on 10 and 17 to finish with a 68.
Hataoka doubled the amount of missed greens for her week in the third round, missing five, but she had another solid putting day with 27 on the round.
Getting into the mix after two great rounds is Yuna Araki, a 20-year-old member of the JLPGA who won her first event in early September. Since the start of September, Araki has had five top-10 finishes on the Japanese Tour, which has led to her being ranked No. 76 in the Rolex Rankings.
Araki started super fast, with five consecutive birdies on holes two-six. She did bogey nine but immediately responded with a birdie on 10. She added two more on the par 5s 16 and 18. In total she shot -7 65 after her round of 66 in the second round.
Six of the top seven names on the leaderboard are from Japan, including world No. 4 Miyu Yamashita, who had another solid day with a -4 68. She is just one back of the lead.
The final round of The Toto Japan Classic kicks off tonight on Golf Channel.
