Hataoka & Kuwaki still tied at the top after low-scoring day

TOTO Japan Classic R3

Nasa Hataoka and Shiho Kuwaki held on to the lead after a low scoring day at the TOTO Japan Classic where only twelve rounds of par or worse were played on Saturday, and the field shot a scoring average of 68.960, more than three strokes under par.

The leaders both shot 6-under 66s on Saturday. Hataoka made one bogey and fired off seven birdies, including three in-a-row on holes 6-8 and one on each of the back-nine par-5s. Meanwhile Kuwaki had a slow but solid day, going bogey free with two birdies and two impressive eagles on the par-5 12th and 17th.

“I play really good and I’m very happy to play with Shiho again and she played really solid so both play good… I am trying to get more birdies (than her) almost every holes… I hit still not good but my course management is pretty good and more safety and then my putting was really good,” said Hataoka, who headed straight to the range following her third round after hitting only five of 14 fairways. She said following her range session, “I’m trying on my swing, I need to find one key and I think I found it.”

Hataoka, who is aiming to win her seventh LPGA Tour title and first since early in the 2022 season, is leading the field in birdies this week with 23 total.

Kuwaki, on the other hand, is looking for her first JLPGA Tour (and LPGA Tour) win after nine top-10 finishes in Japan this season. She has just one professional victory in her young career, a win at the 2021 JLPGA Rookies Championship Kaga Electronics Cup, which is not an official JLPGA event. If she wins tomorrow, she will be offered LPGA Tour membership and a chance to join Hataoka and other Japanese stars on the LPGA Tour.

“I felt a little pressure before the start today. But, I will play with confidence tomorrow since I got the feeling somehow that I could play without any pressure tomorrow.” Kuwaki said. “I really enjoyed playing with (Nasa) and tried to follow her score for the last two days. But, I will need to play better than her tomorrow.

Just one stroke behind the leaders is the JLPGA’s Mone Inami, who has been near the top of the leaderboard all week but never in the lead. She shot a third-round 65 along with JLPGA rookie Sora Kamiya, who is in solo fourth.

Four players are tied in fifth place including Thailand’s Jasmine Suwannapura, who is continuing a good run of form after her T3 finish in Malaysia last week

Pos.PlayerTo ParR1R2R3Total
T1Shiho Kuwaki-20656566196
T1Nasa Hataoka-20646666196
3Mone Inami-19646865197
4Sora Kamiya-18666765198
T5Yuri Yoshida-16686765200
T5Yuka Nii-16686666200
T5Jasmine Suwannapura-16686666200
T5Seon Woo Bae-16676766200
T9Rose Zhang-15686865201
T9Sayaka Takahashi-15706467201
T9Fumika Kawagishi-15676767201
T9Xiyu Lin-15666669201
T13Shoko Sasaki-14676966202
T13Serena Aoki-14706567202
T13Lauren Coughlin-14686767202
T13Rio Takeda-14676768202
T13Yuna Nishimura-14647068202
T13Akie Iwai-14636970202
T19Momoko Ueda-13686966203
T19Yu Liu-13657266203
T19Maria Fassi-13706667203
T19Jenny Shin-13676967203
T19Jiyai Shin-13686768203
T24Miyu Yamashita-12706866204
T24Yuka Saso-12696867204
T24Ayaka Furue-12677067204
T24Gemma Dryburgh-12676968204
28Chisato Iwai-11726964205
T29Kokona Sakurai-10716768206
T29Hannah Green-10706868206
T29Hinako Shibuno-10706868206
T29Lindy Duncan-10696968206
T29Narin An-10696968206
T29Jennifer Kupcho-10706769206
T29Minami Hiruta-10706670206
T29Mami Fukuda-10686771206
T29Yan Liu-10676871206
T29Albane Valenzuela-10676871206
T29Mi Hyang Lee-10676772206
T40Saiki Fujita-9726768207
T40Mao Nozawa-9716769207
T40Lala Anai-9706869207
T40Nanna Koerstz Madsen-9696870207
T40Saki Nagamine-9686970207
T40Mao Saigo-9686970207
T46Minami Katsu-8697168208
T46Yuka Yasuda-8726670208
T46Miyuu Abe-8687070208
T46Hikaru Yoshimoto-8667270208
T46Hana Lee-8686971208
T51Nana Suganuma-7726968209
T51Stephanie Meadow-7707168209
T51Ai Suzuki-7677468209
T51Sarah Schmelzel-7726770209
T51Sakura Koiwai-7696773209
T56Erika Kikuchi-6697566210
T56Peiyun Chien-6737067210
T56Esther Henseleit-6736869210
T56Emily Kristine Pedersen-6717069210
T56Pajaree Anannarukarn-6707169210
T56Linnea Strom-6687270210
T56Miyu Sato-6696972210
T63Bailey Tardy-5737068211
T63Gina Kim-5727069211
T63Hyo Joo Kim-5727069211
T63Chanettee Wannasaen-5696874211
T67Arpichaya Yubol-4707171212
T67Eun-Hee Ji-4687272212
T67Erika Hara-4686975212
T70Paula Reto-3697371213
T70Sarah Kemp-3716775213
72Andrea Lee-2707173214
T73Celine Borge-1727271215
T73In Gee Chun-1717173215
T75Danielle KangPar737469216
T75Dani HolmqvistPar707373216
77Shuri Sakuma+1707176217
78Morgane Metraux+8737477224
Updated: November 4, 2023
TOTO Japan Classic 2023
Date: 2nd November - 5th November, 2023
Location: Taiheiyo Club (Minori Course), Omitama, Ibaraki, Japan
Purse: $2,000,000