{"id":579440,"date":"2026-04-03T11:05:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/579440\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T11:05:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:05:14","slug":"h-kim-leads-international-series-japan-song-two-back-after-rd-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/579440\/","title":{"rendered":"H. Kim leads International Series Japan, Song two back after Rd. 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHIBA, Japan – Korean Hongtaek Kim stayed on course to claim his second title on the Asian Tour, and first on The International Series, after establishing the halfway lead in the International Series Japan<\/a> today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having led after the first round with a 7-under 64, he added a 67 today at Caledonian Golf Club for a strong tournament total of 11 under.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Leaderboard<\/a> | More Intl. Series Japan news<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has a one-shot lead over Japan\u2019s Shugo Imahira and Karandeep Kochhar from India, both in with 65s \u2013 in the opening event of the year on The International Series<\/a>, and the third stop on the Asian Tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Koreans Yubin Jang (63) and Younghan Song<\/a> (68) of Korean Golf Club<\/a>, Japan\u2019s Tatsunori Shogenji (67) and Poom Saksansin (68) from Thailand, are another shot back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kim, winner of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open on the Asian Tour two years ago, managed to do what every great player is capable of at this level which was to work out what was wrong with his game after hitting a difficult patch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI wasn\u2019t hitting my shots very well early in the round, but I was able to figure out what I was doing wrong and make adjustments. After that, I was able to settle in and play much better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He made a bogey on the third to fall back into the chasing pack but his experience quickly kicked in as that was his only dropped shot. He made five birdies later to move into the pole position heading into the weekend, when rain has been forecast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the rain, I probably won\u2019t be able to get as much distance, so keeping the ball in the fairway will be very important,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom there, I\u2019ll focus on staying patient, saving par when needed, and playing well around the greens.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Imahira is one of the most decorated Japanese players in the field and showed that today when he eagled two of the par 5s: the sixth hole and the 18th.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis course gives us a lot of birdie chances, so I tried to take advantage when I could,\u201d said Imahira \u2013 a 10-time champion on the Japan Golf Tour, and two-time winner of their Money List, in 2018 and 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I am in a good position. The event is taking place in Japan, playing in Japan gives me some advantage, so I expect to be in contention after the third round. One of my goals is to win international events, so I will do my best to make it happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kochhar has the distinction of being bogey free for two days, which is reflective of his strong start to the season. He is currently in sixth place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean to stay bogey free I think everything has to be pretty much good, I would say,\u201d said the Indian.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think though it’s my iron play majorly. And the putter, I feel like that’s the streaky one. I think that kind of dictates how I play, so I think the putter has cooperated so far quite well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The outstanding bogey-free 63 by Jang, who competed on the LIV Golf League last year, featured eight birdies and is the lowest round of the week so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was unable to keep his playing privileges on the LIV Golf League but judging by today\u2019s performance the experience has served him well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year didn\u2019t go quite as I hoped, but I\u2019m working hard to get back to that level and improve my performance this season,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still early in the season, so I\u2019m not focusing too much on specific outcomes yet. I just want to keep improving and see where my game takes me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

India\u2019s Jeev Milkha Singh, a two-time Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, showed his class today by making his first cut on the Asian Tour since 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 54-year-old, who now plays mainly on the Senior Tours, returned a 69 to finish on the one under par cutline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, Richard T. Lee<\/a>\u2019s remarkable run of 25 consecutive cuts made on the Asian Tour since 2023 finally came to an end. He came in with a 73 to finish even. The Canadian and LIV Golf Wild Card player hit global headlines last month when he was defeated by Crushers GC<\/a> Captain Bryson DeChambeau<\/a> in a play-off at LIV Golf Singapore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Top image: Hongtaek Kim of Korea pictured during Round 2 of International Series Japan at Caledonian Golf Club. (Photo courtesy of Asian Tour)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHIBA, Japan – Korean Hongtaek Kim stayed on course to claim his second title on the Asian Tour,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-579440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}