Manila Southwoods, 15 November: Korea’s Minhyuk Song won the Philippine Open by seven shots on Sunday, while Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert took the Asian Tour Order of Merit title in the season-ending event. Song shot a final-round 70 on the Masters Course at Manila Southwoods Golf & Country Club to finish on 15-under.
Jaehyun Jung (63), Jeunghun Wang (67), Minkyu Kim (67) and Jeongwoo Ham (69) of Korea, and Rattanon Wannasrichan (66) and Sarit Suwannarut (70) of Thailand, tied for second.
Song’s second win of the season
Song, 22, is in his third season as a professional. He began the day with a seven-shot lead and was never challenged. He made birdies on the fourth and 12th holes and could afford a double bogey on the 15th, his only dropped shots of the day.
It was his second win of the season on the Asian Tour. His first was the GS Caltex Maekyung Open in May, which he won in a sudden-death play-off against Mingyu Cho. The win moved him to third on the Order of Merit and gave him Rookie of the Year honours.
His rounds of 70, 60 and 65 had put him well clear going into the final day. The 60 included two eagles, one of them a hole-in-one, and eight birdies. Song said: “Everything fell in place for me this week and it means so much to win an event overseas. It gives me great confidence with the new season not far away.”
He is the second Korean to win the Philippine Open, after Kim Seunghack in 1973. No Korean had won twice in a season on the Asian Tour since Charlie Wi won three times in 2005.
Jung, who won the Tour Championship on the Korean PGA Tour last week, shared the day’s best round of 63 with American Andy Ogletree. Ogletree tied for eighth, in a group that included Justin Quiban, the leading Filipino after a 69.
Pavit takes the Order of Merit
Pavit tied for 44th after a closing 71, which was enough to finish first on the Order of Merit for the first time. Australia’s Travis Smyth, second on the list, needed a top-two finish to catch him and shot 67 to tie for 12th. Pavit ended the year with 1,373.67 points, 147.99 more than Smyth.
For the first time, the Order of Merit champion receives a DP World Tour card, a result of the multi-year partnership the Asian Tour agreed with the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour in July. Pavit will also get exemptions into The Open and the PGA Championship in 2027 through the International Federation list. He has never played in a major.
The title comes in his 21st year as an Asian Tour player. He made his debut at the 2007 Singapore Open at 18, and in 2014 he won the Asian Development Tour Order of Merit, making him the first player to win both. He is the fifth Thai Order of Merit champion, after Thongchai Jaidee (three times), Thaworn Wiratchant (twice), Jazz Janewattananond and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
Pavit made every cut in 14 starts this season, finished second twice, in the Philippine Golf Championship and the International Series Japan, and had three other top-10 finishes. He won the Yeangder TPC in September and tied for seventh in both the Mercuries Taiwan Masters and the SJM Macao Open. He earned US$571,044.63 over the season.
“Feels like a dream comes true, you know,” Pavit said. “It’s not easy when I first came here in 2007, 2008. Took me almost nine years to win my first Asian Tour event in Macau, and yeah, today I won the Order of Merit after 20 years.”
Read the first-round report and more golf news.
