It has been 21 years since an overseas player last won the GS Caltex Maekyung Open, but heading into the weekend of the famous Korean event there is a possibility that could change.

A couple of international players, who are serial winners on the Asian Tour, have moved into contention. Most notably, Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond has taken a share of the clubhouse lead. He shot a second-round three-under-par 68 to sit on five under along with Doyeon Hwang (66), Wooyoung Cho (70), and first-round leader Heemin Chang (71), all from Korea. India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar is one shot back, alone in third.

Bhullar, who lost in a play-off here at Namseoul Country Club in 2018, fired a 68 – spoilt by bogeys on 16 and 17.

Thailand’s Sarit Suwannarut (69) and Scott Vincent (72) from Zimbabwe are next best placed in the clubhouse on three under, along with joint-first round leader Seonghyeon An, the 15-year-old Korean amateur, who carded a 73.

Wooyoung Cho. Picture courtesy of the Korea Golf Association.

Sixty-one players were unable to complete their second round today. Korea’s Hyungjoon Lee was leading the way on the course at five under with eight to go, while Canadian Richard T. Lee, fresh from a win on the Korean PGA Tour last weekend, is four under with three remaining.

The backlog was caused by poor weather yesterday, which caused a significant delay of nearly four hours and meant 72 players had to complete their first rounds this morning.

Jazz finish joint eighth in the International Series Macau presented by Wynn in March – his most recent Asian Tour event. It was just his second top-10 in nearly two years but along with today’s performance the signs are there that the fortunes might be changing for the seven-time champion on the Asian Tour.

He said: “Trending, for sure. I definitely found my swing right after I missed the cut in New Zealand. Just talking to my coach, Dana [Dahlquist], and we worked for a long time, then it finally clicked on what we needed to do. It’s one of those things where it’s like one shot, and it just changed your whole swing thought, and it’s just the concept of it.”

He closed out his round with dogged determination, nearly holing his second on the par-four 15^th, before making a two-footer for a birdie to move to five under and a share of the lead. He then made a great sand save for par on the next, splashing out from a deep greenside bunker to three feet. On the par-three 17^th  after a wild tee shot that was short and right of the green he finessed a chip shot over a trap to five feet and drained the putt for a three.

“I mean, it was good, I am happy with my result,” said Jazz, who last won on the Asian Tour at the 2022 International Series Morocco, and is also a former Korea Open champion, in 2019.

Gaganjeet Bhullar. Picture by Graham Uden.

“I still had a lot of mistakes out there. But at Namseoul you’re always gonna have mistakes, so the one who has the least mistakes is going to win.”

His co-leader Cho, a member of the Korean side that won team gold at the 2022 Asian Games – along with Yubin Jang, who is playing at LIV Golf Korea this week, and PGA Tour stars Sungjae Im and Siwoo Kim – finished his last three holes in some style with a birdie, an eagle – holed his second from the fairway – and a birdie.

Bhullar charged up the leaderboard with three birdies in-a-row from the 12^th before slipping up over the closing stages.

“I made three birdies in a row, and then I actually misjudged two of the chips on two out of the last three holes,” said the 37-year-old.

“On the 16th I was right there, I thought it’s going to be a flat chip, 54 degrees bump and run, I just misjudged that. And on the 17th I just misread the line. But I think other than that it was a decent round of golf.”

He was beaten by Korean Sanghyun Park in extra time here seven years ago, in a play-off that also featured Koreans Hwang Jung-gon and Chang Yi-keun.

It was a rare case of one getting away for the Indian, who he is an 11-time winner on the Asian Tour – the most by any Indian.

He added: “A lot of the local Korean players have played this golf course more than I’ve played here. But yeah, I mean, one thing it definitely shows that when you’re playing well on a golf course where you have played well in the past, it definitely adds to your subconscious mind. And I think at times it does give you a benefit.”

Play resumes tomorrow at 7am local time, with round three starting after 10.30am.

American Mark Calcavecchia was the last overseas player to win the GS Caltex Maekyung Open, back in 2004, at Lakeside.

ENDS