TOYOTA, Aichi -- Host Japan fell into second place at 9-under 279, one stroke behind South Korea, after the second round Wednesday in the girls' nine-country team competition of the 2018 Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture.
In the 15-country boys competition, Japan remained third at 9-under 417, five strokes behind coleaders Spain and Denmark.
"My course management was not so good," said Yuka Yasuda, a third-year student at Takigawa Daini High School in Hyogo Prefecture. "I think South Korea is strong, but we don't want to lose. There are still two days, and we'll put this [the results so far] behind us. We believe we can make it."
In the individual girls event, Yasuda started in fourth and moved up to second at 4-under 140, two strokes behind sole leader Lee Su Jeong of South Korea.
Ayaka Furue, a third-year student at Takigawa Daini High School, and Yuna Nishimura, a third-year student at Osaka University of Commerce High School, shared the top spot after the first round Tuesday, but Furue dropped to fourth at 3-under 141 and Nishimura was fifth at 2-under 142 after the second round.
In the individual boys event, Keita Nakajima, a third-year student at Yoyogi High School in Tokyo, finished fourth in the first round. However, he fell to 10th at 3-under 139, six strokes back of Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark. Nakajima shared 10th with Ryo Hisatsune, a first-year student at Sakuyo High School in Okayama Prefecture.
Daisuke Kotera, a second-year student at Osaka Gakuin Daigaku Senior High School in Osaka Prefecture, finished with a 67 in the second round, moving up to 12th at 2-under 140.
The four-day event is being held at the Chukyo Golf Club's Ishino course, with special support from The Yomiuri Shimbun. The par-71 course for boys is 6,843 yards, while the girls are playing 6,130 yards at par 72.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
