January 24: Micah Shin (main picture) showed his love for the Philippines once again when he grabbed the clubhouse lead at the halfway stage on day two of the US$500,000 Smart Infinity Philippine Open, the season-opening event of the 2025 Asian Tour schedule.

The 28-year-old Korean-American is making a return to competitive golf following a hip injury that kept him away for the whole year after withdrawing from the Saudi Open presented by Public Investment Fund in December 2023.

On Friday, Shin made seven birdies in a round of five-under-par 65 to move to six-under-par 134 total after 36 holes, one ahead of Australian Aaron Wilkin (69).

Local hero Justin Quiban shot a bogey-free 64 – the lowest round of the tournament so far – to make up for his disappointment in the opening round. It helped him get to three-under 137 and in tied seventh place before the afternoon players took on the challenging Masters Course of Manila Southwoods Golf & Country Club.

Another player making a significant move was Australian Travis Smyth (66), who climbed up to tied fourth place at four-under alongside compatriot Kevin Yuan (66) and South Africa’s Ian Snyman (68). Both Yuan and Snyman did not drop a shot during the round.

Justin Quiban of the Philippines. Picture by Jason Butler/Asian Tour.

Shin was born in the USA but spent his growing years in Davao City in the south of the Philippines. He won his first and only Asian Tour title when he triumphed at the 2017 Resort World Manila Masters in the bustling capital of the country.

Although he moved to Korea during the COVID years, Shin showed once again how comfortable he is in the Philippines. On Friday, he started from the first hole with a birdie before dropping a shot on the par-three fifth hole. Once he birdied the eighth, he did all his scoring over the last 10 holes.

“I had a problem with my hip… it’s called a hip impingement or something like that. The bone grew and I had to get surgery done on that,” said Shin.

“I am not 100 per cent fit still. So, I’m actually happy that I finished my round like this. But, who knows what will happen.”

Shin’s last win also came at Manila Southwoods, and he added: “It feels nice to be back, but it feels really different too. They have changed some holes.

“I wasn’t really hitting it too good yesterday, so I was actually kind of worried about my round today. I was trying to figure out my swing with my caddy. I was just focusing on my tempo and rhythm and stuff and I started hitting a little better.

“I got a new putter this week and that’s been helping a lot as well.”

Aaron Wilkin of Australia. Picture by Jason Butler/Asian Tour.

Quiban, a regular at Manila Southwoods, started from the 10th tee and finished strong with a birdie on the seventh hole before his eagle on the eighth.

“I was pretty much flawless from tee to green,” said Quiban, looking for his first win on the Asian Tour. “Yesterday, I wasn’t really hitting my drives properly, I wasn’t really getting into the right positions. I just worked on the driver after my round and that carried on today. I just missed one fairway and had perfect looks to the pins, and I was actually draining my putts too.”

Wilkin, who made three monster putts for birdie from outside 50 feet yesterday, was having trouble with his putter and three-putted twice. But he knuckled down to make six birdies to get over a deflating double bogey on his seventh hole.

“Pretty happy with that, considering I had a few mishaps for the middle of the round,” said the 31-year-old, who lost in a sudden-death play-off in the Mandiri Indonesia Open last year.

“A couple three-putts and out of position a few times. I was struggling through the middle there. I was hitting decent golf shots but leaving myself in the wrong side of the hole, which made it harder. So, birdieing two out of the last three to get me on the path of the day…I will take it.”