Minhyuk Song from Korea [main picture] blew away the field in the second round of the Philippine Open presented by Philippine Sports Commission today, shooting an astounding 10-under-par 60 to take a four-shot lead.

A hole-in-one, another eagle, eight birdies, and two bogeys saw him move from joint 26^th at the start of the day to first place – putting him well on the way to lifting the Asian Tour Rookie of the Year Award.

Thailand’s Sarit Suwannarut carded a 63 to move into second place, while fellow-Thai Sadom Kaewkanjana, second in this event last year, returned a 67, to sit alone in third – in the season-ending event on the Asian Tour.

In the battle for the Asian Tour Order of Merit title, Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert, the Merit list leader, and Australian Travis Smyth, in second place, finished the day in a tie for 37^th to keep the race alive. Pavit fired a 73 while Smyth – who needs to win or finish second as long as Pavit is clear of the top 10 – came in with a 68 to give himself a fighting chance.

Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, the only other player in the field who had a chance of catching Pavit, missed the cut to fall out of contention. The 2019 Merit list champion had a calamitous finish, finding the water twice on his last hole for a triple bogey to frustratingly miss the cut by two.

Minhyuk Song. 

Song’s day was significantly better, although as preferred lies were played his round cannot be an official record.

Having started on hole 10, he made the turn in seven-under 28 following a sensational run of holes after making bogey on 13.

He birdied the 14^th, where he hit the pin with his approach, holed his bunker shot on the following hole for a birdie, and holed out from 126 yards in the fairway on the next, a par four, for an eagle. He then aced on the par-three 17^th and recorded another birdie on 18. The hole in one was the result of an eight iron from 178 yards – for the fifth hole in one of his career.

“It was an incredible day and I still can’t believe and process what happened and how I played,” said the 22-year-old, who won the GS Caltex Maekyung Open on home soil this year for his maiden Asian Tour victory.

“On the 15th my second shot went over the green to the bunker. I thought it was one of the hardest holes, so I tried to just hit it on the green, but my third ended up going in. And the next hole I thought it was, you know, a birdie hole, so I tried to make birdie, but it came out as an eagle, and then from that I just kept going with the flow.”

Sarit Suwannarut.

He just missed a tricky downhill eagle putt from 25 feet on the par-four ninth for a 59.

He said: “I really wanted to make the putt, and I knew it was for 59, so I really wanted to make the putt. But in my mind, I just said let’s just make two putts. My hands were sweating so much, and I didn’t want to leave it short, but it ended up being short as I mis-read it a bit.”

Barring a complete collapse at the weekend he will finish the year as the leading rookie. He is in 12^th place on the Merit list, just 47.18 points behind his main challenger for the award, Australian Cameron John. John is in 11th position but is not competing this week, having opted to play in the DP World Tour Qualifying School, where he successfully secured his card by impressively finishing third.

Sarit was nearly as brilliant today. He made seven birdies, including five in a row from the fifth and was bogey free. All despite being stung by a bee.

“I would say I’m the ‘bees’ man today,” said the Thai, who is looking for his third win on the Asian Tour and first since the 2023 Volvo China Open.

“I actually got stung by a bee on the first tee box, and I thought I might not survive today, but yeah, I did. I hit my irons better. Putts finally got going. So, all credit to the putts and the bees!”

Korean Jeunghun Wang (65), Sampson Zheng (67) from China, American Kevin Na (69), plus Thailand’s Kosuke Hamamoto (67) and Sarut Vongchaisit (69), are in joint fourth place – six behind the runaway leader.

Sadom Kaewkanjana.

New Zealand’s Nick Voke, the first-round leader, fired a 74 and is one under, in joint 18^th.

Pictures by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.