Four players share lead going to final two days of Philippine Golf Championship

Travis Smyth of Australia shot a three-under par 69, while Jeunghun Wang and Wooyoung Cho of South Korea had similar 70 to force a four-way tie at the top with first day leader Sarut Vongchaisit of Thailand at the end of second round action of the Asian Tour’s Philippine Golf Championship presented by the Philippine Sports Commission on Friday, February 6 at the famous East Course of the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City.

Smyth, Wang, Cho and Vongchaisit, who had a second round 71 after firing a 68 for solo lead in the first round, are all tied at five-under 139 through two days of competition in this opening leg of the Asian Tour – the second year that that Philippines is staging the first event of the professional tour.

Smyth, a former Asian Tour champion back in 2022, had a one-shot lead at four-under through 11 holes when he made an eagle on the par-5 14. His second shot with a 4-iron landed on the green just seven-feet away from the hole, converting an eagle putt, which put him up on the leaderboard ahead of Wang, Cho and Vongchaisit.

However, that lead of his was only for a brief moment.

The difficult par-3 17 proved to be a tough hole for Smyth as he finished with bogey – the same result he had at the opening round.

“Found the fairway off the tee, then my second shot – with a 4-iron – landed on the green, just seven-feet from the hole. That was the best second shot in my life. Made an eagle putt,” said Smyth, who birdied on 2, 4 and 11, and also bogeyed on 8.

“So 17 is arguably one of the hardest par 3’s ever if you miss the green and I hit it in the worst spot possible which was left. So I was in the bunker, down slope, greens massively raised. I was trying to actually hit it over the green on the other side because there was no way I could hold that green. But it was so elevated that I couldn’t even get it up on top.”

“I missed it left, sort of rolled back down and then I hit an amazing chip shot and almost made par. But it was a good 4 in the end,” he added.

Nevertheless, he remains positive on his chances going to the final two days of the tournament that offers a total prize purse of US$500,000 from the Asian Tour and the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP), the sport’s governing body in the country, with $90,000 going to the champion in this event backed by Bingo Plus and the MVP Sports Foundation.

“My game today was good, obviously I shot under par and played this golf course Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I thought anything under par on this golf course is a good score. It’s not easy, it’s really tight, it’s really firm at the moment, bouncy so to shoot what I shoot, 3 under in the end, it was a good day,” Smyth said.

Cho, who like Wang, also had a similar 69 in the first round.

“Today was a very, very tough day. I just tried no bogey, and every hole makes the par. That’s why it makes my minus five today. Yesterday, it was also… actually, it’s the first time I play on the cow grass. Yeah, it’s so much different in Korea and in the U.S., so I just keep trying safe area. Yeah, that’s why I make five on the par,” said Cho.

“Very firmer and hard to contact. Very hard to control the distance in this golf course. I would say hole number 17 was tough, but I hit very well. I make birdie on 17. But I think the hardest shot is 17’s tee shot.”

“Same plan, one and two rounds also. Same plan. This golf course, don’t have to hit the driver stronger. Every hole, keep the fail is most important. And then, no make buggies every hole. This is my plan,” added Cho.

As for Vongchaisit, he mixed his rounds with birdies on 8, 11, 12 and 14, but made bogeys on 3, 4 and 7.

“Front nine was not too good for me, but definitely a good comeback on the back nine, shooting three under on the back nine, so I’m definitely happy about it. I just didn’t keep it in play in the front nine, just hit in the wood, which on this golf course you can’t do that,” he said.

“Yes, it’s my first time playing here and it’s kind of, we have a lot of golf course that kind of like this back home, so with the cow grass, I’m used to that chipping and hitting on fairway, so yeah, I’m kind of comfortable around the green.”

“Of course, just got to hit it in play off the tee, that’s the most important thing. Once you do that, it’ll be a lot easier, keep it in play. That’s definitely the game plan,” he added.

A stroke behind the four are Ian Snyman of South Africa and American Marcus Plunkett at four-under 140. Plunkett shot a second round 70 while Snyman had a 68 – one of three to shoot the best round of four-under for the day as he shared $10,000 with Thailand’s Suteepat Prateeptienchai and Tomoyo Ikemura of Japan.

Tied for seventh to eighth are Hung Chien Yao of Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong’s Shunyat Hak at 141, while Filipino Keanu Jahns (71-71) and Brycen Ko (72-70) remain in contention at 142 – three shots behind the leaders.

Five other Filipinos made the cut at +4, including at Fidel Concepcion and Carl Jano Corpus at 144, tied for 18th to 30th, Jhonnel Ababa and Rupert Zaragosa at 146, tied for 42nd o 52nd, and Enrique Dimayuga at 148, tied for 65th.

Out of the 42 participating golfers from local soil, only seven made the cut.

Out after two rounds included former Philippine Open champions Angelo Que, Gerald Rosales, and Clyde Mondilla, as well as Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit winner Tony Lascuna.