Shiho Oyama has been coming alive in the middle third of 2014, but I don't think anybody was ready for her to go 65-63 in the 1st 2 rounds of the Golf 5 Ladies or to take a 6-shot lead on Misuzu Narita and an 8-shot lead on Yumiko Yoshida, Onnarin Sattayabanphot, and Kotono Kozuma. Meanwhile Ji-Yai Shin, who's won 3 of her last 6 JLPGA events, is 11 shots behind Oyama after what would usually be a respectable 70-69 start to her week.
Oyama's been dealing with a lot of injuries since she tried joining the LPGA a few years back, but she got her 13th career JLPGA victory in the final event of 2013, the Ricoh Cup, which marked her 3rd major victory on tour. She's come close to #14 several times already this season, with 3 top 5s in her last 5 starts and 6 top 10s in her last 8, but she's been overshadowed by the recent pyrotechnics of Shin and Bo-Mee Lee.
7 other golfers have broken 70 in the 1st 2 rounds, but at the pace Oyama's going, somebody will need to break 65 tomorrow to have a chance to put any pressure on her at all. And if there's going to be any drama about the final result, that somebody had better be Narita, who had 3 wins and 9 top 10s in the 12 starts before last week's T33. As much as I like Narita, I'd love to see Oyama run away with this one, though!
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