Thailand’s Chonlatit Chuenboonngam upstaged the big guns of Korean golf today to take the halfway lead in the GS Caltex Maekyung Open after shooting the lowest round of the week so far and one of the best of the season.
Relatd: Kyungnam Kang rolls back the years in Korea
His brilliant bogey-free nine-under-par 62, which featured eagles on two of the par fours and was agonisingly one short of the 23-year-old course record, put him on nine-under and gave him a one-shot lead over Koreans Kyungnam Kang, the first-round leader, and Hongtaek Kim.
Kang carded a 69 and Kim a 65, while their compatriot Yubin Jang, a member of Korea’s gold medal winning Asian Games team last year, is another stroke back following a 69.
View this post on Instagram
Chonlatit lost a sudden-death play-off against Australian Wade Ormsby at the International Series Thailand early on last season – a result which many thought would launch his career. Further success did not materialise but his talent re-surfaced once more today with the finest round of his career that featured two eagles and five birdies, including two in the last three.
He also missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-five ninth, which was his 18th as he began on 10, to narrowly miss matching Chinese-Taipei’s Chung Chun-Hsing course record, set way back in 2001.
View this post on Instagram
“I didn’t see the ball go in on either hole for eagle as they were uphill,” said 25-year-old, who finished late in the day to edge ahead of Kang and Kim, who were out in the morning session.
“I thought they were going to be the right distance and close, but not that they would go in.
“It’s my first time playing this course. I don’t know the trouble left and right, so I just played my game. I didn’t think too much. I just tried to hit the fairways and keep the ball short of the pins for uphill putts. That’s my game plan for the weekend too, keep it short and not past the pin.”
His first eagle came on the 13th before he made another two on the first.
Kang admitted that the GS Caltex Maekyung Open is the title he wants to win the most.
The 41-year-old is an 11-time winner in Korea but he has yet to win one of the country’s big three events: the Korean Open, the Shinhan Donghae Open and this week’s event.
View this post on Instagram
“The goal is always to win. I want to win the GS Caltex Maekyung Open Championship the most though,” said Kang, who was bogey-free yesterday, but made two bogeys today and four birdies.
“I have played safe for two consecutive days. It is more important to avoid bogeys than make birdies. If you persevere, you get a chance.
“I’m over 40 years old, but I have the confidence to win.”
The Korean has been battling a back injury by doing plenty of exercise including regular bike riding.
He said: “I rode my bike for 40 minutes again yesterday. I have discovered that my body performs better when I am tired. If I had realised this earlier, I would have won 20 tournaments!”
Kang, who last won in Korea three years ago, said he is not used to playing so well early in the season and is normally a late starter so feels he might have a chance to finish the year ranked first in Korea.
Kim has made his name on the golf simulator circuit in Korea winning 12 times on the GTour – his nickname is ‘King of the Screen’ – but he is enjoying being in contention playing the real thing.
“It feels good to be tied for the lead at the moment. I’ll prepare well for the weekend round,” said the 30-year-old, who won on the Korean PGA Tour back in 2017.
“I was in a hurry yesterday because the play went well.”
He participates in simulator competitions when there are no Korean PGA Tour events being played.
“Namseoul’s green speed is faster than simulator golf’s ‘very fast’ mode. You can’t come here after playing at ‘very fast’,” he joked.
