Ryo Ishikawa continued his surge up the leaderboard of the Shigeo Nagashima Invitational on Saturday, improving from 27th to a tie for 10th with a 6-under 66 that left him three strokes off the pace heading into the final round.
Ishikawa shot six birdies in a bogey-free round to close in on overnight co-leader Lee Kyoung Hoon, who fired a 70, and fellow South Korean Kim Hyung Sung, who carded a 68. Yasuharu Imano, who had shared the second-round lead with Lee, scored even par to fall two strokes off the pace at the 7,127-yard, par-72 North Country Golf Club in Hokkaido.
One stroke back of Kim and Lee were a pack of five — Komei Oda, Toru Suzuki, Taichi Teshima, South Korea's Ryu Hyun Woo and China's Liang Wenchong.