DP World Tour news: Scotland's Grant Forrest goes low to share lead in Japan
- Planet Sport writer
- 21 April 2023
Scotland’s Grant Forrest, Jazz Janewattananond and Lucas Herbert share the lead at the halfway mark of the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan.
Scotland's Grant Forrest shot the lowest round of the week to share the lead with Jazz Janewattananond and Lucas Herbert at the midway point of the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan.
Forrest joined the three-way tie after carding nine birdies and a single bogey in his second-round 62, finishing with back-to-back birdies to reach 10 under par.
The highlight of Forrest's round came at the eighth - his penultimate hole - where he drained an enormous birdie putt, while another gain on the ninth earned the afternoon starter a share of the lead.
Forrest said: "I didn't realise where I was until the last green and I thought 'oh this is for a 62'. I just plugged away all day.
"I got the putter going. I didn't really hole any putts yesterday but managed to roll in a few, got one in on the eighth - our 17th - from a long way.
"The weather wasn't great at home the past month (with no events), but did what we could, just tried to keep playing as much as I could at home and keep everything ticking over.
"I'm looking forward to the weekend. The course is firming up a bit. There have been some tucked pins and I imagine it will stay the same going into the weekend.
"If you hit it well off the tee there are a few chances, but at the same time if you short side yourself on a few of these pins you have no chance of getting it close. I will just try to do more of the same, manage the game and try to leave ourselves in the right places."
From downtown! 🤩@grantforrest93 shares a tie of the lead at -10 after a second round 62, lowest round of the week so far.#ISPSHandaChampionship pic.twitter.com/SevN1JHbCn
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) April 21, 2023
Thailand's Janewattananond finished his round with a hat-trick of birdies at the 16th, 17th and 18th to sign for a 63, while Australian Herbert made nine birdies in his second-round 63.
German Maximilian Kieffer was one stroke behind the co-leaders on nine under, with England's Jordan Smith, home favourite Takumi Kanaya and South African Deon Germishuys all a further shot back.
Four-time major champion Ernie Els put on a show on Friday, holing his bunker shot for an eagle on the 16th to reach four under and safely make the cut.
He said: "The finish did it for me. I needed a big finish. I wanted to be here for the weekend, so it's nice."
