Hisako Higuchi IDC Otsuka Kagu Ladies Friday/Saturday: Arimura/Jeon Showdown?

Chie Arimura and Mi-Jeong Jeon know very well that time is running out on the 2009 JLPGA season. At 3rd and 4th on the money list, and with the LPGA coming next week, they know they need to win the Hisako Higuchi IDC Otsuka Kagu Ladies to have a chance to pass Sakura Yokomine and catch Shinobu Moromizato by the last major--and last tournament--of 2009. Well, Jeon opened the tournament with a 65 and Arimura matched her on moving day. Although there are many players who could give them trouble tomorrow--including Akiko Fukushima, who lost in a playoff last week to Ji-Yai Shin, and last year's most consistent player on tour, Ji-Hee Lee--I expect to see a showdown between the 2 players with the most to gain from a win this week.

Here are the 1st-round results and here's how the leaders and notables now stand:

1st/-10 Chie Arimura (69-65)
2nd/-9 Michie Ohba (69-66)
T3/-8 Mayu Hattori (68-68), Mi-Jeon Jeong (65-71)
T5/-7 Akiko Fukushima (70-67), Hiromi Mogi (69-68)
T7/-6 Eun-Hye Lee (72-66), Ji-Hee Lee (71-67), Tamie Durdin (68-70), Akane Iijima (67-71), Yun-Jye Wei (67-71)

T12/-5 Yuko Mitsuka (71-68), Bo-Bae Song (69-70), Maiko Wakabayashi (65-74)
T18/-4 Shinobu Moromizato (70-70), Ah-Reum Hwang (69-71)
T20/-3 Rui Kitada (71-70), Hyun-Ju Shin (71-70), Julie Lu (69-72)
T26/-2 Nikki Campbell (73-69), Yumiko Yoshida (71-71)
T30/-1 Ayako Uehara (75-68), Sakura Yokomine (73-70), Na-Ri Lee (72-71), Kumiko Kaneda (72-71), Yukari Baba (69-74)
T38/E Mie Nakata (71-73)
T42/+1 Erina Hara (73-72), So-Hee Kim (73-72), Miki Saiki (72-73), Sakurako Mori (72-73)

Only a few players missed the cut this week:

T53/+2 Ji-Woo Lee (72-74)
T66/+3 Rikako Morita (76-71), Yuki Ichinose (73-74), Esther Lee (73-74)