Much to cheer for hordes of Japan’s golf-mad fans

HORDES of Japanese golf fans converged at the Saujana Golf and Country Club to cheer their countrymen in action at the Maybank Championship.

And the golf-mad followers were duly entertained by the Japan Golf Tour (JGT) contingent led by world No. 43 Yuta Ikeda yesterday.

Five of their seven representatives made the halfway cut and three of them – Ikeda, Daisuke Kataoka and Hideto Tanihara made it to the top seven of the leaderboard.

The 19-time JGT winner Ikeda showed that he was back to his best after missing the cut at the recent Singapore and Myanmar Opens respectively.

The 32-year-old reeled off eight birdies on his way to a bogey-free 64 and tied for third on 10-under 134 with England’s Lee Westwood and Scotland’s Marc Warren.

“I’m very happy. I played very well with eight birdies and no bogeys,” said Ikeda, who opened with a modest 70 yesterday.

“I played the same but I had more birdie chances today, so it was very good. I struggled on the greens ( on Thursday) because it was so tricky.

“I couldn’t judge the lines on the greens. Now I’m in a good position.

“I like to play golf here. There was a huge crowd of Japanese and Malaysian fans,” added Ikeda, who shone for Team Asia with a 100% record (three wins) at the EurAsia Cup recently.

14-time JGT winner Tanihara, the other Japanese member in Team Asia, was also impressive with a 64.

The other two Japanese advancing into the weekend are Yusaku Miyazato and Ryo Ishikawa.

Ikeda and Co will be out to recapture the glory days of the Japanese in Malaysia.

Back in the 60s and 70s, the Japanese dominated the premier golf tournaments in Malaysia. There were as many as seven winners in the first 12 editions of the Malaysian Open since 1962.