Shaun Norris celebrated his 39th birthday on Friday by taking a share if the second-round lead of the Japan Golf Tour’s Asia Pacific Diamond Cup with a five-under-par 67 moving him to eight-under for the tournament.
He made six birdies and a bogey to share the halfway lead with Japan’s Taiga Sugihara who went seven-under without a dropped shot. The pair leads by one from three players, and there are two more players on six-under.
“I will celebrate my birthday some other day and stay safely in my hotel room tonight,” said Norris. “I must get focused on my game anyway.”
Norris was able to rejoin the Japan Tour’s prolonged 20-21 season from April after being away for 18 months after many tournaments were cancelled last year. He did have the chance to play in some US PGA Tour events in in some majors during that time. “My last tournament in Japan was a long time back. I had to go through two weeks of quarantine before I started tournament play here two weeks ago, and I am just trying to get my game back.”
Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe carded a one-under 71 in the second round to move to one-under for the tournament and a share of 34th. Jbe’ Kruger went three-over on Friday, and his tournament total of three-over means he will miss the weekend.
Norris has four wins on the Japan Tour, and has lined himself up a chance for a fifth.
