Pablo Ereño (-1) has made the cut at the International Series Japan, the first tournament on this circuit he has played in his career and his first appearance in the Land of the Rising Sun. Check. The Madrid native didn’t fail. And he certainly hasn’t had it easy.
Pablo started this Friday at the 10th hole of the Caledonian Golf Club with plenty happening on his card. Bogey to start at 10, an immediate response with a birdie at 11, another bogey at 12, three consecutive pars and another bogey and birdie to finish his first nine at 17 and 18. A real exchange of blows from which he emerged unscathed, level for the day and two under par overall.
The cut was settling at one under par at that point. That was the first target. Ereño took a giant step with a sensational birdie at the 3rd hole. Shortly after, a birdie slipped away at the 5th hole, a good chance to seal the cut, and immediately afterwards a setback arrived on the next hole. Wayward tee shot, missed green, two putts and a double bogey. Suddenly, Pablo found himself outside the cut with only two holes to play.
His immediate reaction was sensational. At the 8th hole, one of the three toughest at the Caledonian Golf Club, he hit a spectacular drive, one of the longest of the day. He left himself a second shot to the green of 137 metres uphill, into a headwind from right to left and the flag on the left on a very small shelf. A very delicate shot. There he produced all the magic. His 8-iron was exemplary. He left it perfect. Nothing more. He hardly even had to putt, simply push it.
Situation under control again. He was inside the cut and needed a par on his last hole. And that’s what he did, playing textbook: fairway, green and two putts. Weekend secured. Two more days to enjoy in Japan.
Hongtaek Kim (-11) remains the sole leader of the tournament with a one-shot lead over the Japanese Shugo Imahira (-10) and the Indian Karandeep Kochhar (-10). Two shots back are the leader’s South Korean compatriots Yubin Yang (-9) and Younghan Song (-9), as well as the Japanese Tutsonori Shogenji (-9) and the Thai Poom Saksansin (-9).
Beyond the front of the leaderboard, one of the stories of the day was the missed cut by the Canadian Richard T. Lee. This breaks a sensational run of 25 consecutive cuts on the Asian Tour. Also missing the cut were Max Rotluff, Sadom Kaewkanjana, Kieran Vincent and Lucas Bjerregaard.
