GS CALTEX MAEKYUNG OPEN RELATED STORIES GS Caltex Maekyung Open home page GS Caltex Maekyung Open Preview Round 1: Koreans dominate first day leaderboard Round 2: Oh moves one clear and eyes maiden win Round 3: Tight finish promised as Bae closes on home hat-trick Round 4: Bae completes home hat-trick in playoff Final Scores & Prize Money About the course Four to watch this week Hwang targets home title defence Wu Ashun growing in confidence 2008 flashback: Hwang denies Noh historic chance as he claims his maiden win MORE ASIAN GOLF NEWS Old Guard Show Form In Philippines Mike Kerr New Asian Tour CEO Nirat Eyes Title In Philippines 2012 Performance Stats Hiratsuka Hopes To Defend In Myanmar Sponsors Show Support For Philippine Open Champions Head To Myanmar 84 Players Make Final Stage

Oh moves one clear and eyes maiden win

Korea’s Ted Oh moved two places up to take the second round lead after recording a four-under-par 68 at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open on Friday.

Oh posted six birdies against two bogeys for a two-day total of eight-under-par 136 at the Nam Seoul Country Club to hold a slender one shot lead over fellow Korean Park Hyo-won who carded a 69 for a 137 total.

Kim Hyung-sung is a further shot back in third on 138 while Byun Jin-jae, Choi Sang-ho and overnight joint-leader S.K. Ho are tied for fourth on 139.

Son Joon-eob and Jeong Youn-jin are in tied-seventh place together with the Asian Tour contingent that included Singapore’s Lam Chih Bing, Philippines’ Juvic Pagunsan and Australia’s Scott Barr who all posted matching 140s.

Oh, who started the day in tied-third, made a quick charge for the lead with three successive birdies from his opening 10th to 12th holes. The 32-year-old Korean then dropped a shot on the 17th before making the turn in 34.

Oh registered further birdies on the fourth, seventh and ninth against another bogey on the eighth after the turn to eventually return home in 68.

However with two more rounds to play at the approximately US$470,000 Asian Tour event, the California-based Korean is not calling for an early home celebration anytime soon.

“I’ve been in this position before where I was leading and I began to think too far ahead. I’m just going to go out there now and play like everyday’s the first day and play what I did for the first two rounds,” said Oh who is seeking his first win on the Asian Tour.

Park, who had earlier taken a share of third place with Oh at the end of the first round, is also hoping that his good form this week will see him win his first title in Korea.

“It’s always exciting to be in contention and I hope to lift the trophy on Sunday,” said Park who mixed his card with five birdies and two bogeys.

Korean veteran Choi continued to bank on his vast years of experience to stay within sights of winning his second title at this event.

“The key to playing well is to remain focus and that’s what I plan to do this week,” said 54-year-old Choi, who became the oldest winner on the Asian Tour when he won the event in 2005.

Lam, who is seeking his second win on the Asian Tour, is all charged up to mount that weekend assault up the leaderboard and hopefully break the Korean dominance here.

“It seems like a lot of foreigners have trouble playing well in Korea. But for me I’ve played pretty solid for two days and I hope to be able to do something special this week,” said Lam, who is beginning to rediscover his form which saw claim his maiden breakthrough at the season-ending Volvo Masters of Asia last year.

Pagunsan also remains on target for his second win on the Asian Tour since his last victory at the Pertamina Indonesia President Invitational in 2007.

The 30-year-old Filipino enjoyed his maiden breakthrough in a stylist way with that victory in 2007 but had to endure a barren run ever since then.

Pagunsan’s plans of getting his season back on track are however well on track as he plans to ride on his rich vein of form to inspire him to victory this week.

“I think I’ve played well so far this season. I have got a couple of top-10s this year and I know it’ll get better,” said the Filipino, who has already registered two top-10s this season with his tied-third finish at the Asian Tour International as his best result so far.

The weekend cut has been set at three-over with a total of 78 players making the cut.

The GS Caltex Maekyung Open, sanctioned with the Korean Golf Association is the ninth leg of this season’s Asian Tour and is also the second Asian Tour event in Korea.

Leading second round scores (click here for full leaderboard):

136 - Ted Oh (KOR) 68-68
137 - Park Hyo-won (KOR) 68-69
138 - Kim Hyung-sung (KOR) 70-68
139 - Byun Jin-jae [A] (KOR) 69-70,S.K. Ho (KOR) 67-72, Choi Sang-ho (KOR) 69-70
140 - Juvic Pagunsan (PHI) 70-70, Son Joon-eob (KOR) 72-68, Lam Chih Bing (SIN) 70-70, Scott Barr (AUS) 72-68, Jeong Youn-Jin [A] (KOR) 69-71
141 - Kim Jong-Duk (KOR) 67-74, Lee Seung-Ho (KOR) 72-69, Son Hyun-Ho (KOR) 72-69, Bae Sang-Moon (KOR) 71-70
142 - Kim Dae-Hyun (KOR) 73-69,Marcus Both (AUS) 72-70,Kim Bi-O (KOR) 72-70,Kang Min-Woong (KOR) 74-68,Kim Kyung-Tae (KOR) 72-70, George Coetzee (RSA) 69-73

Selected score
146 - Noh Seung-yul (KOR) 74-72

May 15, 2009