Singapore Open: Thailand’s Ekpharit, South Korea’s Ham share lead after tight first day at Serapong

[SINGAPORE] The morning flights set a frenetic pace to leave most of the late starters playing catch-up on an eventful first day of the Singapore Open presented by The Business Times on Thursday (Apr 23).

On a fairly cool morning that turned into a sweaty, humid day, Thailand’s Ekpharit Wu made the tough Serapong course at Sentosa Golf Club his easy playground to take an impressive early two-shot lead.

On his maiden appearance at the Singapore Open, the 26-year-old made a mockery of his lowly world ranking of 581 with a classic seven-under 64 to sit comfortably atop the leaderboard.

But Ekpharit’s comfort zone was rattled slightly with a dramatic late charge by South Korean Ham Jeong-woo – a golfer who mainly plays on the Korean PGA Tour – as he turned in five birdies on the way in to share the lead on 64 as dusk arrived.

Still, the day’s early heroics belonged to Ekpharit, who teed off from the 10th tee and bagged five birdies on his first nine.

On his way back, he collected two more birdies in an impeccable round with no bogeys.

Ekpharit and Ham now lead by two over Charles Porter of the US, Aidric Chan of the Philippines, and Zimbabwean Kieran Vincent, who eagled the 18th hole. Porter, Vincent and Chan all shot 66s to share third place.

Said Ekpharit after his round: “I just think about myself. My mindset is, whether the golf course is hard or easy, you still have to play. So I just think about it, shot by shot, and then just play.”

Giving credit to his wife Pam, who is his caddie, he added: “She helps me a lot, she makes me more confident on the course. She helps me to also not to get angry out there, and she manages my emotions well.”

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Ekpharit turned professional in 2020 and is a graduate of the 2025 Asian Tour Qualifying School. He is a two-time winner on the All Thailand Golf Tour with consecutive titles in 2024.

A whole host of players produced 67s: John Catlin from the US, Australians Will Florimo and Kevin Yuan, Japan’s Tomohiro Ishizaka and Ryosuke Kinoshita, Spaniard Luis Masaveu, and Gaganjeet Bhullar from India.

The pre-tournament favourite Travis Smyth from Australia, with a world ranking of 136, endured a nightmarish round with a one-over 73 – way off the cut-mark – and lies joint-75th.

Singapore’s best performer was Ryan Ang, who is in joint-29th on one-under 71.

Veteran Koh Dengshan and amateur Brayden Lee are within the cut-off on even par and lie tied 55th.

The Singapore Open is the fourth event of the season on the Asian Tour and the second leg of The International Series, which provides a pathway to the LIV Golf League.

The event is also part of the Open Qualifying Series, with the top two players not otherwise exempt eligible for this summer’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in the UK in July.