Lucas Herbert protected his overnight lead despite a wobble in the middle of his second round, carding a two-under-par 69 to reach 11-under total halfway through the second round of the $2 million International Series Japan presented by Moutai.
The 29-year-old Australian was off the blocks in a flash on Friday morning, making two birdies in his first two holes, and then adding another on the 14th, his fifth hole of the day, to reach 12-under. However, a sprayed drive on the 15th led to a double bogey, followed by a brace of bogeys on the next two. He responded with five birdies over the nest 10 holes for a round of 69.
At 11-under, the Ripper GC player was one ahead of Korea’s Younghan Song, who carded a bogey-free four-under-par 67 and moved to 10-under-par aggregate.
Another player who took advantage of the calm morning conditions at the par-71 Caledonian Golf Club was Japan’s Yuta Sugiura (67). A second consecutive four-under round moved him to eight-under par total, and three behind the leader.
Asian Tour members, Guatemala’s Jose Toledo (69) and Australia’s Travis Smyth (67), joined LIV Golf’s American stars Cameron Tringale (69) and Caleb Surratt (67) to be tied at seven-under total.
