Sullivan and Kim tied in Japan after Day One

England's Andy Sullivan and South Korean Kim Yeongsu are tied after day one in Japan on the DP World Tour at the 2023 ISPS HANDA – CHAMPIONSHIP after getting their campaign's underway with opening 63s.

The DP World Tour is breaking new ground this week with their first ever tournament in Japan, being played alongside the Japan Golf Tour Organisation.

Sullivan who is a four-time winner on the DP World Tour, had eight birdies and one solo bogey on Thursday at PGM Ishioka Golf Club.

'Really pleased, just got off to a good start. A lot of right flags out there for me to find.'

Sullivan continued 'Me and my coach have been working on going back to when I was playing my best, around 2015, 16, so we’ve looked at swings from there and almost tried to mimic that. It’s getting close, feel confident with the irons. Driver is still taking a bit of work. On the whole the game is feeling good. It feels a lot more under control again, less of the erratic shots.' 

Kim had the tiediest round of the day out of the whole field. Starting his day on the first hole, he managed birdies on the 4th and 9th reaching the turn in 33. But it was the back nine where he went up a gear. Starting off with birdie on 10 and then a trio of them from the 12th, while a final one on the 16th finished off his back nine in just 30 shots, seven under par total.

'I played in a tournament in Japan in 2012 so this is the first time in about 10 years. I played comfortably, looking at a nice view of a good golf course. Playing in front of many spectators was fun, even in the first round,' said the South Korean.

One shot back is Aaron Cockerill. The Canadian who plays out of The Els Club, Dubai had just one blemish on his card on the second hole, other than that a very tidy 64 which included seven birdies.

'I made plenty of birdies, hit the ball close, hit a lot of fairways. It was pretty stress-free overall and obviously a great start to the tournament. It was perfect this morning, a nice temperature, very little wind.

'The course is in perfect condition. The greens are really good, some of the best we have played all year. If you get it on line it’s probably going in. It was a very nice morning to play golf.'

Cockerill, as mentioned is at six under par alongside Swede Alex Björk and Challenge Tour graduate Deon Germishuys from South Africa.

UAE residents after Day One:
T31 - Rafa Cabrera Bello (-3)
T49 - Adri Arnaus (-2)
T100 - Nicolas Colsaerts (Par)