Aki Iwai Takes One-Shot Lead into Final Round at TOTO Japan Classic

• Aki Iwai leads the TOTO Japan Classic after a third-round 66.
• Arpichaya Yubol is one shot back after a 65, the low round of Saturday.
• Defending champion Nasa Hataoka shot 72 and is three behind.

Aki Iwai shot a 6-under 66 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the TOTO Japan Classic at the Taiheiyo Club Minori Course in Omitama, outside Tokyo.

Iwai, who shared the first-round lead with a 66 and added a 69 on Friday, sits on 15-under 201. She is chasing a second LPGA Tour title, after her first came at last year’s Standard Portland Classic.

As a JLPGA member in 2023 she opened with a 63 to equal the tournament’s 18-hole record, and she holds the LPGA Tour scoring record at the venue. Her autumn form has been strong too: in late September she closed with a 62 to share second place at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Yubol comes home in 31

Arpichaya Yubol made seven birdies in a 10-hole stretch on her way to a 7-under 65, climbing 10 places into solo second at 14-under 202. The Thai turned in 34, then birdied the 10th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th for an inward 31. Her card showed eight birdies and one bogey, and she needed just 26 putts.

After an opening even-par 72, Yubol has followed with back-to-back 65s and played the last 36 holes in 14-under.

The 24-year-old is still looking for her first LPGA Tour win in a season of near-misses. She was solo second at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba and the ShopRite LPGA Classic, and tied for second at The Standard Portland Classic in August, where she shared the 54-hole lead before Jeeno Thitikul came from two back with a 64. She entered this week 18th in the Race to the CME Globe. Her best finish at this event is a tie for 22nd in 2024.

The chasing pack

South Korea’s Youmin Hwang and Japan’s Erika Hara are two shots back at 13-under after rounds of 68. Hwang, a 23-year-old rookie, has broken 70 in all three rounds and hit 47 of 54 greens in regulation. She joined the tour as a winner after taking the 2025 LOTTE Championship as a non-member, and this is her first start at this event.

Hataoka took a one-stroke lead into Saturday after a second-round 64 but could only manage an even-par 72. She is part of a four-way tie for fifth at 12-under, three off the lead. Hataoka won this event in 2018 and again last year, in a playoff in a rain-shortened tournament, but has yet to defend an LPGA Tour title.

The TOTO Japan Classic is the last of four tournaments on the LPGA’s late-season Asian swing. Japanese players have won two of the first three, Yuri Yoshida in Korea and Miyu Yamashita in Malaysia.

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