Unheralded Frenchman Julien Sale [main picture] produced a stunning performance to win the Smart Infinity Philippine Open, in his first ever start on Asian Tour start. He defeated Sadom Kaewkanjana of Thailand and Japan’s Tomoyo Ikemura by a shot, despite a bogey on the 72^nd hole, where Sadom and Ikenura both made birdies to keep things exciting right until they very end. Sale’s win came just a month after he’d earned his Tour card at the Qualifying School in Thailand.

The par on the Masters Course at Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club was changed from 72 to 70, with Sale winning with a score of 11 under. That was eight shots less than American Micah Shin’s total when won the last time the Asian Tour visited the course in 2017. However, on both occasions their winning totals were 269.

Arguably, Sale’s most important statistic was topping the week’s birdie count with 22; Sadom made 20 and Ikemura had 17. However, he was also impressive in other categories, ranking third in Putts per Green in Regulation (GIR) with 1.649, T5 in GIR with 79.17%, 12^th in Driving Distance with an average of 318.38 yards, 12^th in Putts per Round on 28.5, T12 in Putts per Round with 28.5, and T26 in Fairways Hit on 69.64%.

Tomoyo Ikemura had the fewest number of bogies or worse, with just four bogies. Picture by Jason Butler/Asian Tour.

If the 27-year-old can keep producing those kinds of numbers, we should see a lot more of him on the leaderboards in 2025.

Sadom who had held a three-shot lead halfway through the tournament had a great week on the greens ranking second in Putts per GIR with 1.642 and T8 in Putts per Round with 28.25. He also posted a solid GIR percentage of 73.61%, ranking 13^th. The 20 birdies he made ranked tied second for the week, but unfortunately, he offset those red numbers with six bogeys and two doubles. His other stats numbers were: Driving Distance 296.38 yards (T39), Fairways Hit 66.07 (T38).

Ikemura, who was on top of the leaderboard going into the final round, led the field in Fewest Bogies or Worse with only four bogies made. His approach game was very solid for the week ranking T8 in GIR with 76.39% and he also had a good week on the greens ranking 13^th in Putts per GIR with 1.709 and T8 in Putts per Round with 28.25.

Statistics Categories leaders at the Smart Infinity Philippine Open (of players making the cut):

• Putts per Round – S.S.P. Chawrasia (IND): 27
• Putts per GIR – Danthai Boonma (THA): 1.62
• GIR – Kevin Yuan (AUS): 84.72%
• Fairways Hit – Sean Ramos (PHI), Jiho Yang (KOR): 80.36%
• Driving Distance – Lawry Flynn (AUS): 337.5 Yards
• Most Eagles – 19 Players: 1
• Most Birdies – Julien Sale (FRA): 22
• Fewest Bogies or Worse – Tomoyo Ikemura (JPN): 4
• Scrambling – Ian Snyman (RSA): 80%