Defending Champion Hataoka Takes One-Stroke Lead

• Nasa Hataoka leads the TOTO Japan Classic after a second-round 64.
• Miyu Yamashita is second after a 67.
• Ana Belac and Fuka Suga are tied for third.

Nasa Hataoka eagled the par-5 17th on Friday, came home in 30 and signed for an 8-under 64, the low round of the day. That took the defending champion from two off the pace to a one-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the TOTO Japan Classic.

Hataoka, who grew up not far from the Taiheiyo Club Minori Course, northeast of Tokyo, sits on 12-under 132. She opened with a 68 on Thursday, two behind the three-way first-round lead.

Nasa Hataoka takes the lead with an INSANE eagle putt 🤯 https://t.co/N8bRri4IVE

— LPGA (@LPGA) November 6, 2026

How did Hataoka go low?

Her card showed eight birdies and an eagle. She hit 11 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens and took 26 putts. Her 14 birdies for the week are tied for the most in the field.

She won this event in 2018 and again last year, when she took a playoff in a rain-shortened tournament. She has yet to defend an LPGA Tour title. She has five top-10 finishes this season but no win.

“So weather is obviously change from yesterday so I played really well today, and especially iron shots were good,” said Hataoka.

She also has local family and friends watching this week. “I don’t really have chances to play in front of that many Japanese fans, especially in US,” she said. “I’m really happy to be playing in front of them.”

This season she has withdrawn from majors and missed cuts in others.

“For the rest of the season my goal is to get at least one win so hopefully I can achieve my goal this week,” she said.

Yamashita’s first bogey comes at the last

Miyu Yamashita, who defended the Maybank Championship in Malaysia last week for her third LPGA Tour win of the season, shot 67 to sit one back. She pulled her tee shot at the 18th and made bogey. It is her only dropped shot in 36 holes. She hit 11 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens and took 29 putts.

Belac makes the most of a late call-up

Ana Belac got into the field on Monday when Ariya Jutanugarn withdrew. She became the first Slovenian on the LPGA Tour in 2021 and is making her first appearance in this event. She made eight birdies and took only 24 putts in a 65 that lifted her 13 places into a tie for third.

She shares thir place d with Fuka Suga, who followed her opening 67 with a bogey-free 67. Suga is fifth in the JLPGA Mercedes Rankings and won the Taiwan Foxconn Ladies Golf Tournament this year.

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