0165타 몰아친 하라 에리카, '무결점' 경기로 선두 추격
일본에서 열리고 있는 미국여자프로골프(LPGA) 투어 TOTO 재팬 클래식에서 하라 에리카가 폭발적인 득점력을 선보이며 우승권에 진입했다. 하라는 라운드 내내 단 하나의 실수도 허용하지 않는 완벽에 가까운 샷감을 뽐내며 리더보드 상단으로 이름을 올렸다.
이날 경기에서 하라 에리카는 보기 없이 버디만 낚아채며 65타를 기록하는 기염을 토했다. 정교한 아이언 샷과 안정적인 퍼트를 바탕으로 타수를 줄여나간 하라는 이번 라운드를 통해 대회 우승을 노릴 수 있는 유리한 고지를 점하게 되었다.
특히 '노보기 65타'라는 기록은 하라의 물오른 컨디션을 증명한다. 기복 없는 플레이로 순위를 대폭 끌어올린 하라는 홈 팬들의 응원 속에서 남은 라운드 우승 트로피를 향한 본격적인 추격을 이어갈 전망이다.
02Original (English) — LPGA
Erika Hara of Japan acknowledges the gallery on the 1st green during the second round of the TOTO Japan Classic 2026 at Taiheiyo Club Minori Course on November 6, 2026 in Omitama, Ibaraki, Japan.
Megan McCrea is the Manager of Digital Operations. Megan is in her second year with the LPGA, working with the LPGA and Epson Tours to manage, develop, maintain, and update website content.
Erika Hara moved 21 spots up the leaderboard Friday at the TOTO Japan Classic, posting a bogey-free 7-under 65 to reach 9-under 135 at Taiheiyo Club Minori Course in Omitama, Ibaraki, Japan. The LPGA Tour rookie is part of a six-way tie for fifth, three strokes behind leader Nasa Hataoka with 36 holes to play.
Hara, 27, opened the week with a 2-under 70 that left her T26. Her second-round 65 tied for the second-lowest score of the day, trailing only Hataoka’s 64. She shares fifth with countrywomen Shuri Sakuma, Yui Kawamoto, Sayaka Takahashi and Aki Iwai, along with Youmin Hwang of the Republic of Korea.
Hara needed just four holes to get moving. She birdied the par-4 fourth, then went back-to-back at the par-4 sixth and seventh to turn in 3-under 33.
She saved her best stretch for the start of the back nine. Hara birdied the par-4 10th, the par-4 11th and the par-5 12th to climb to 8-under, then steadied herself with four consecutive pars. A birdie at the par-5 17th capped a seven-birdie card and an inward 32.
The 65 matches Hara’s lowest round of her rookie season, and her 36-hole total is her best start in three appearances at this event. She finished T56 at 8-under in 2023 and T34 in 2024.
Hara reached the LPGA Tour by way of the Epson Tour. In 2025, she made 17 of 18 cuts, recorded nine top-10 finishes, won the Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic and finished fifth in the Race for the Card standings to secure membership for 2026. She arrived as an established winner in Japan, with two Japan Women’s Open Golf Championship titles (2020, 2023) and a victory at the 2020 Japan LPGA Tour Championship.
Friday’s round came in her 25th start of 2026. She has five top-10 finishes this season: a T10 at the Blue Bay LPGA in March, T9s in back-to-back starts at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba and the Mizuho Americas Open, a T8 at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open in July and a T10 at the Buick LPGA Shanghai in October. Her best major finish is a solo 14th at The Amundi Evian Championship, and she sits 40th in the Race to the CME Globe.
Her scoring has picked up during the fall Asia swing. Hara closed with a 65 at the BMW Ladies Championship and a 66 at the Maybank Championship last week, making Friday’s 65 her third round of 66 or better in her last nine.
Still seeking her first LPGA Tour victory, Hara will enter the weekend three strokes off the pace with a chance to earn it on home soil when the third round begins Saturday.