There was an element of nostalgia in Jeunghun Wang’s two-under-par 70 today at the Philippine Golf Championship presented by Philippine Sports Commission.
Related: Tough conditions bring the best out of Sarut
It moved him into a share of the lead on day two on five under at Wack Wack Golf & Country Club in Manila – reviving memories of his first ever appearance on the Asian Tour here 15 years ago.
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His compatriot Wooyoung Cho (70), Thailand’s Sarut Vongchaisit (71), the first-round leader, and Australian Travis Smyth (69) are on the same total – in the season opening event on the Asian Tour.
One shot back are South African Ian Snyman (68) and Marcus Plunkett (70) from the United States.
In 2011, aged 16 and still an amateur, Wang competed in the Philippine Open here and although he missed the cut it marked the start of his career on the international stage. He went on to win three times on the DP World Tour, one of those, the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open – a tournament joint sanctioned with the Asian Tour.
Said the 30-year-old: “I don’t actually remember the course from back then, but when I played here, I was really nervous. That’s what I remember, actually.”
There were no such nerves today. He was bogey free, making his first birdie on the 16th – he started on 10 – before another birdie on the fifth.
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The Korean has not tasted victory since the 2017 Qatar Masters although he has been on the cusp of winning many times, including at last year’s Moutai Singapore Open, where he was beaten by Japan’s Yosuke Asaji in a sudden-death play-off.
“I’m really happy that I didn’t make any bogeys today. Yeah, I’m really happy, and hopefully I can keep not making bogeys on this course,” he added.
“I hit a lot of fairways and my short irons have been pretty good this week. So always just regulation play on the greens, and just two putts. I’m not too aggressive on this course.”
He revealed he visited the course two weeks ago and practiced for about an hour and a half at the famous venue, to get a headstart.
Cho, also started on 10, and drew level with Wang after making birdie on the ninth, his final hole. He also made a birdie on the daunting par-three 17th, which rarely sees twos.
On his birdie on the last he said: “It was a very hard shot. The second shot was from the [fairway] bunker. I was in the bunker and had a very high bunker lip, so I was just trying hit it very high, yeah, that was it.”
On the 17th, he explained: “Yeah, I pray every time I get to 17 but yesterday was a very nice shot and today also a very nice shot, so I have good confidence in my iron game.”
The Korean, a professional for two years, is looking to win for the first time on the Asian Tour.
He arrived in the Philippines having spent the off-season practicing in Thailand, getting away from the winter in Korea.
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“I’ve just had a lot of practice in Thailand, so that’s why I’m hitting it very nice now. In the winter season I was in Pattaya at Siam Country Club,” said the Korean, who explained he hit a lot of two and three irons off the tees to tackle the famously tight and tough East Course.
Sarut, playing just his second season on the Asian Tour, struggled on the first half, going out in two-over, having been three over after seven due to three bogeys. Order was restored soon after when he nailed birdies on eight, 11, 12 and 14.
“Good comeback!” he said. “Happy to shoot under on this course. It’s not a long course, just tight. It suits me as I don’t hit the furthest out here, and you definitely need to know your way out here, so that definitely helps.”
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An eagle on the par-five 15th saw Smyth take the lead on six under later in the day but a bogey three holes later saw him drop back into the pack.
Smyth, enjoying the challenge of Wack Wack, said: “First time yeah, I love it. It gives me like, sort of Hong Kong Golf Club vibes. A little bit where you just sort of place it around off the tee, a lot of like four irons and hybrids off tees and it was even a couple of six irons off some of the par four tees. So, it’s quite cool, I’m enjoying it, it’s good.”
