Baby-faced assassin
CARMONA—Minhyuk Song of South Korea played probably the finest nine of his life on Friday, shooting an outward 28 for an eye-popping 10-under-par 60 to be the new Philippine Open leader of the $1 million Asian Tour finale at the Masters course of Manila Southwoods here.
And LJ Go, who took on the spearhead’s role for the Philippine challenge after shooting a 68 to be eight shots out of the lead heading into the final 36 holes of the Philippine Sports Commission-presented championship, knows exactly what needs to happen.
“I think we (the field) might need help from him (Song) a bit. He needs to slow down,” Go told the Inquirer after a birdie from a long way’s away on the 17th had him sealing a 138. “It’s still possible. But a lot of things need to happen and I still need to play well.”
The 22-year-old Song had a sizzling hot streak to close out the difficult back nine—his opening nine—as he played the final five holes at seven-under, the streak featuring a pitch-in eagle and a hole-in-one from the 16th.
“It just feels like so much has happened and I am still trying to process everything,” the baby-faced Song said through an interpreter as he opened up a four-shot lead over Thailand’s Sarit Suwannarut. “I’m just trying to think of it as a really great day. I just went on and kept playing.”
He had a chance to shoot a 59 but intentionally did not give his birdie chance on the ninth a chance.
“I was worried about potentially three-putting,” Song said. “I decided it was better to just get it close and make sure of the two putts.”
No go as Masters record
It was one of the most remarkable rounds ever seen on local soil, but his 60 cannot pass as a new course record with the field playing lift-clean-and-place rules. The 62 that Thailand’s Danthai Boonma shot in the third round last year remains as the course standard.
Suwannarut returned a 67, even as a total of eight Filipinos made the cut at 144, counting the ageless Antonio Lascuña, who returned a 68 to make weekend play on the dot
Sadom Kaewkanjana, another Thai, fired a 67 to be five off the lead, with American Kevin Na shooting a 69 to be one of six players with 136s.
Justin Quiban had a double bogey for the second straight round and needed an 18th hole birdie to shoot a 70 and be just a shot behind Go—nine shots out of the pace—with Aidric Chan firing a 67 to be at 141 and in good position to at least crack the top 10.
First round leader Nick Voke, meanwhile, struggled in blustery conditions in the afternoon and went on to fire a 74, now in the company of Quiban. The 32-year-old Auckland native triple bogeyed the par-4 10th and then signed for four more bogeys against just three birdies as his chase for a breakthrough Asian Tour title took a massive shot to the kisser.
“A lot,” Voke told the Inquirer, when asked what went wrong after he had played a seemingly faultless 65 in the first round that had six birdies against a bogey. “The good thing about (today) is that there is still a lot of golf left to be played. I still have 36 holes to make up for that.”
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