Yannik Paul closed with a 5-under 65 to take a share of the lead at the ISPS HANDA Championship at Taiheiyo Club.
“I putted really nicely,” said Paul. “My putting coach Mike came to Arizona two weeks ago and we changed quite a few things because that was the first time I saw him off site so it was a better time to change some stuff and it worked really nicely.
“I was hitting it OK, nothing special, and I capitalised on a lot of my chances.”
The German player is tied with four local players Taisei Shimizu, Taiki Yoshida, Tomoyo Ikemura and Taiga Nagano with Tagano only through eleven holes.
Play was suspended due to darkness after fog caused a three hour delay in the morning and is due to resume at 0630.