Trio top leaderboard into the weekend

Defending champion Kiyoshi Miyazato of Japan fired a four-under-par 67 to take a share of the second round lead in the US$830,000 Asia Japan Okinawa Open on Friday.

Miyazato fired five birdies against a lone bogey at Naha Golf Club and is tied for the lead on seven-under-par 135 with coutryman Yasuharu Imano and Kaname Yokoo, who shot a 64 and 70 respectively.

Newly crowned Asian Tour Order of Merit winner Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand fired a fine 67 for a 136 total and shared fourth place with local hope Ryuichi Oda and Australia 's Chris Campbell.

Sponsor's invite and woman golf sensation Ai Miyazato of Japan was, however, on the opposite end of the leaderboard in 120th position when she stumbled to a 78. With a two-day total of 158, she missed the halfway cut.

However, Ai's brother, Kiyoshi flew the family flag high. He started off with a birdie on the par fourth third hole followed by another birdie on the par three fifth hole. After a dropped shot on the seventh, Miyazato enjoyed a blemish-free backnine with birdies on 11, 12 and 15.

“I was fully focused and gave it my best as I was desperate to score well today which I did,” said Miyazato. “I had a good day as I was able to gauge the wind and struck the ball consistently well.

“The course was a little bit different during practice and I hope to adopt a more calm and relaxed approach tomorrow,” he added.

The Okinawa Open is the opening leg for the 2006 season for the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.

Imano, who finished second in the recent Japan Golf Tour Money list with two victories in 2005, was blemish free as he nailed seven birdies on the card to charge into contention. He is enjoying a rich vein of form, having won the 2005 season-ending event in Japan earlier this month.

Ai's debut against the men ended prematurely. She got off to a disastrous start with a triple bogey at the par four first hole. The 20-year-old youngster, who won the World Cup this year and enjoyed six other wins on the Japan LPGA, had a rollercoaster run with birdies on the second, bogey on the third and birdie again on the fourth.

She double bogeyed the par three eighth hole and concluded the front nine with a bogey. She then birdied the 10th and 15th and went downhill at the closing stages when she bogeyed the 13th, 14th, 16th and 18th holes.

India 's Shiv Kapur, who won the Volvo Masters of Asia, shot into contention with a 65 for tied seventh place, two shot behind the leading trio.

Leading second round scores

135 - Kiyoshi Miyazato (JPN) 68-67, Yasuharu Imano (JPN) 71-64, Kaname Yokoo (JPN) 65-70

136 - Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 69-67, Chris Campbell (AUS) 68-68, Ryuichi Oda (JPN) 69-67

137 - Shiv Kapur ( IND ) 72-65, Marcus Both (AUS) 70-67, Dinesh Chand (FIJ) 65-72, Hiroyuki Fujita (JPN) 66-71

138 - Jeev Milkha Singh ( IND ) 71-67, Toru Taniguchi (JPN) 71-67, Tadahiro Takayama (JPN) 70-68,

139 - Unho Park (AUS) 70-69, Scott Strange (AUS) 70-69, Tsuyoshi Yoneyama (JPN) 70-69,

Tetsuji Hiratsuka (JPN) 71-68, Kenichi Kuboya (JPN) 67-72, Jason Knutzon (USA) 68-71, Prayad Marksaeng (THA) 70-69, Scott Laycock (AUS) 73-66, Gaurav Ghei (IND) 69-70

140 - Richard Moir (AUS) 68-72, Katsunori Kuwabara (JPN) 71-69, Yang Yong-Eun (KOR) 71-69

Eiji Mizoguchi (JPN) 72-68, Ross Bain (SCO) 72-68, Tommy Nakajima (JPN) 69-71, Shinichi Akiba (JPN) 70-70, Amandeep Johl (IND) 69-71

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