{"id":955978,"date":"2026-11-07T13:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T13:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/955978\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T13:44:15","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T13:44:15","slug":"aussie-golfer-still-a-chance-as-local-leads-in-japan-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/955978\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie golfer still a chance as local leads in Japan \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Local favourite Aki Iwai has shot a six-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Japan Classic, with Australia\u2019s Hannah Green still within striking distance.<\/p>\n<p>Iwai is one shot clear of Thailand\u2019s Arpichaya Yubol, who carded the day\u2019s lowest round of 65 on Saturday at the Taiheiyo Club north of Tokyo.<\/p>\n<p>Yubol is looking for her first victory on the LPGA Tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Iwai picked up her first LPGA win last year in the Standard Portland Classic.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1794059055_499_.jpeg\" alt=\"Akie Iwai.\"\/>Akie Iwai has a one-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Japan Classic. (<a href=\"https:\/\/photos.aap.com.au\/search\/20250815125198555779\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AP PHOTO<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Green kept herself in with a shot of victory with a fine third round.<\/p>\n<p>After opening with a 70, the Aussie has improved each day, following her second-round 69 with a four-under 68 that featured five birdies and only one bogey.<\/p>\n<p>Heading into the final round, Green is at nine under, six shots behind Iwai\u2019s 15-under total.<\/p>\n<p>Of the other Australians in the field, Robyn Choi is even with the card after a third-round 72, while Minjee Lee is 15 over after carding a 79.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Aki Iwai takes the outright lead with a birdie on 17 \ud83d\ude33  Tune in on @GolfChannel now to see how Moving Day shakes out \ud83d\udcfa https:\/\/t.co\/2l3GKYxmw7<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LPGA (@LPGA) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LPGA\/status\/2118941210458919028?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">November 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Youmin Hwang of South Korea and Erika Hara of Japan were two shots behind the leader after both shot 68.<\/p>\n<p>Defending champion Nasa Hataoka closed with a 72 and is in a group of four players three shots behind Iwai.<\/p>\n<p>Hataoka, the leader after two rounds, won the event last year in a playoff in a rain-shortened tournament.<\/p>\n<p>The Japan Classic is the last of four tournaments in the LPGA\u2019s so-called late-season Asian swing.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 With Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local favourite Aki Iwai has shot a six-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead heading into the final&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":955979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,941,405163,85,12632],"class_list":["post-955978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-japan","tag-overseas-sport","tag-sports","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}