Young Sokor rallies to reign at Wack Wack
Cho Woo-young played his final 17 holes as flawlessly as he could on Sunday to shoot a five-under-par 67 and win the first Philippine Golf Championship by four shots over a field that was dumbfounded by tough-as-nails Wack Wack East.
Starting the final round two shots behind Karandeep Kochhar of India, the 24-year-old South Korean played steadiest when the entire field groped for form, with all six of his birdies coming after holing out for bogey on No. 1 to tally 277 over the tree-lined layout.
Keanu Jahns wasn’t spared in the demanding final round that played under drizzles and heat, as the Filipino German, who was within four shots of the lead going into Sunday, ballooned to a week-worst 75 to settle for a tied for 10th finish 10 shots behind Cho.
Cho credited his mental toughness in bouncing back from that dropped shot on No. 1 to win for the first time on the Asian Tour.
“I think today the most important thing is my mental [game],” Cho later told reporters when asked what he thought of after opening with a bogey. “I kept telling myself, ‘Woo-young, it’s OK, you’re going to make it. It’s a normal situation at Wack Wack.’
“I just focused to play better after that.”
The 26-year-old Kochhar, who was also shooting to win for the first time as a pro, had a more difficult start and couldn’t come back from a double-bogey start.
He would shoot a 77 to finish eight shots off the winning score, with Pavit Tangkamolprasert, the Thai veteran, shooting a 70 to salvage second place alone. Travis Smyth, the Aussie who held a piece of the lead after the second round along with three others, also struggled to shoot a 73 and finished another two shots behind.
Carl Corpus was the next best local bet, finishing 13 shots off also after a 75 as the East course bared its fangs on the field for the final time, with Ian Snyman of South Africa, who entered the final round holding a piece of second spot, shooting a 76 to end up in a fifth-place tie nine shots off Cho.
