Korea keeps its flag flying at the three-way co-sanctioned ICTSI Philippines Ladies Masters after the second round, as Kim A Hyeon produced a sizzling front-nine 31 to rise from the eighth to the top on the leaderboard, with just one round to go.

The Korean now holds a one-shot lead on 7-under 137 in the TLPGA Tour, the LPGT (Ladies Philippine Golf Tour), and the Korea LPGA’s Dream Tour co-sanctioned event. First-round leader Seong Eun Jeong carded a 1-over 73 on Thursday and dropped into a tie for sixth with home favorite Pauline del Rosario and Thai youngster Pattharat Rattanawan.

Two-time TLPGA Tour winner Parinda Phokan used a second-round 70, following a first-round 68, to keep her place in solo second. Taiwan’s Wang Li-Ning (王莉甯) made a late surge with a trio of birdies from No.12 to 14 to put herself within striking distance on 5-under with Kim Seo Yoon and Han Nak Young, both from Korea.

Early in the morning saw red-hot Kim A Hyeon impress and score birdies on No.1, 2, 4, 8, and 9, without leaving any blemish on the card, to steal the lead. To her disappointment, she finished the day with nine straight pars.

However, this flawless performance paved a great chance for her to take her first TLPGA Tour crown with just 18 holes left on Friday.

“My primary focus was on my tee shots. I wanted to make sure I did not over-complicate things and just try to reach as many fairways today as I can,” Kim said. “I was able to conjure up some great iron shots to get me out of a few crisis situations, and of course they helped me set up lots of scoring opportunities.”

“Yeah, it kind of felt anticlimactic with nine pars in a row at the end. I had a couple of birdie putts but couldn’t make them. I think it has something to do with the heat. I had to hydrate myself continuously to keep my energy up. It wasn’t very easy, but I’m glad I keep fairly spirited till the end despite not making any more birdies,” Kim added, who came back to professional golf in 2022 after a two-year left-hand injury break. The Dream Tour member trained in Thailand in this past winter break.

Thai Parinda Phokan is looking for her third TLPGA Tour crown this week in Laguna. The 28-year-old claimed two victories in 2019 at the Hitachi Ladies Classic and SAMPO Ladies Open. Today, Phokan credited her accurate approach shots that gave her little trouble on the greens. “The headwind got me sometimes, but my short game was sharp. Putting the ball close to the pin is one thing, but the feel of my putter was really good as well, which earned me some good birdies,” Phokan said.

Wang Li-Ning went out struggling to create chances. Starting the day on 2-under, the Taiwanese found herself slipping down to 1-under at the turn. However, she showed her resilience to notch five birdies on the inward nine to climb back up into a tie for third, with just a two-shot deficit.

Chang Wenny Ching-Ling (張靖翎) and Huang Ching (黃靖) carded 75 and 76 to survive the cut as well. The cut line was at 5-over 149 as 62 players move on to the final round tomorrow.

The ICTSI Worldwide Link Philippines at The Country Club Sta Rosa, Laguna, provides a total prizemoney of $200,000, which sees a 100% increase from 2024.