Singapore Open: South Korea’s Ham Jeong-woo the surprise halfway leader at Sentosa

[SINGAPORE] South Korean golfer Ham Jeong-woo relied on some sound putting as the overnight joint-leader propelled himself to be the surprise leader heading into the weekend at the Singapore Open presented by The Business Times.

On the second day of the event at Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong course, the 31-year-old carded a three-under-par 68 for a 132 total.

That allowed him to move to 10-under for a two-shot lead over Jazz Janewattananond from Thailand, the 2019 Singapore Open winner who shot a magnificent 66 to stay two strokes behind on eight-under.

“The putts were the best. I hit the putts well and made use of the chances,” said Ham, who’s currently ranked 746th in the world.

“My irons weren’t as good. My accuracy to the green wasn’t great but I think I overcame the critical moments with the putts,” he added.

Should Ham continue his good form at Serapong on Saturday and Sunday, he will be in a strong position of going to the British Open in July if he can be among the top two finishers.

“I honestly wasn’t thinking too much about the Open. I was feeling envious about the Korean players going to play at the Open, but since today’s round has ended well, now I really want to go as well.” he admitted.

Asked about how he intends to catch Ham this weekend, Jazz said: “This golf course suits my eyes well, and it is the best course in Asia. I want to just hit the fairways and greens and then hope even the long putts go in. The greens are going to get firmer in the next two days.”

India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar and Japan’s Tomohiro Ishizaka share third place, another stroke behind, as both shot 68s.

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Bhullar, an 11-time champion on the Asian Tour, made two birdies in the last three.

“I’ve not been playing so many events. It feels good to be on the first page of the leaderboard,” said the 37-year-old.

“I thought I played really well last year, but the scores were not coming at the right time. So probably this week, I’ll try to do my routine and process and try and give my 100 per cent.”

Flying the Singapore flag high

Four Singaporeans made the cut as James Leow, Ryan Ang, Brayden Lee and Troy Storm all beat the one-over line.

Ang had a fine day on the greens with a two-under 69 which gave him a 139 total and joint-19th position. He shares this spot with Lee, who came in with a 68 in his six-birdie score.

The 18-year-old Lee, who also made the cut at last year’s Singapore Open, said: “I kept my shots in play off the tee a lot more today. My irons were better as well, and the putting stayed the same.

“I’m lucky to be an adopted member of (Sentosa Golf Club), so I do spend most of my time around here. It’s a really tough course, because it very demanding off the tee and the greens are huge and undulating.”

Storm also happily made the cut on tied-57th on one-over 143 (72-71).

The sensation of the day was provided by James Leow. Sitting precariously on three-over 75 on the first day on Thursday, Leow shot a magnificent 66, marked by six birdies and a bogey.

Leow, who bogeyed his last hole, said: “Maybe not the finish we wanted there, but otherwise it was a good round, no complaints.”

American Ollie Schniederjans bounced back after Thursday’s 74 with Friday’s best round of the day (65) to make the cut as well. He finished with four straight birdies to be well inside the cut mark of plus-one with minus-three.