ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Golf devider Korean Cho Wooyoung captures Philippine Golf Championship crown

Korean Cho Wooyoung captures Philippine Golf Championship crown

Published Feb 8, 2026 03:41 pm

At A Glance

  • Starting the day two shots behind overnight leader Karandeep Kochhar, the 24-year-old Korean stumbled with a bogey at the opening hole then roared back with six birdies to capture his maiden Asian Tour crown.
Korean Cho Wooyoung poses with his trophy after winning the Philippine Golf Championship at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club. (Asian Tour)
Korean Cho Wooyoung poses with his trophy after winning the Philippine Golf Championship at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club. (Asian Tour)
Cho Wooyoung bared his fangs in the rain-soaked final round, firing a blistering five-under-par 67 to secure a four-stroke victory in the Philippine Golf Championship presented by the Philippine Sports Commission at the East Course of the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club on Sunday, Feb. 8.
Starting the day two shots behind overnight leader Karandeep Kochhar, the 24-year-old Korean stumbled with a bogey at the opening hole then roared back with six birdies to capture his maiden Asian Tour crown.
“I think today, the important thing is mental,” said Cho, who was a professional for two years and a gold medalist at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games for South Korea.
“My mental (game) was very bad, but I just tried to get better and better. After that bogey on the first hole, I kept telling myself, ‘Wooyoung, it’s okay. Let’s focus on the next so we can get a birdie.’ And it worked,” he added.
A two-time champion in the Korean PGA, he finished the 72-hole, $500,000 event at 11-under 277 after rounds of 69, 70 and 71. He opened the tournament tied for second, then shared the second-round lead with three others before relinquishing it in the third round.
He made sure to reclaim the lead -- and the title -- on the final day, capping his round with a 20-foot birdie on the last hole.
He pocketed the $90,000 champions purse and an additional $10,000 for carding the lowest round of the day, which the club sponsored for each round.
“I just told myself, ‘Wooyoung, don’t make four putts,’” Cho said with a laugh on that final hole.
Pavit Tangkamoprasert threatened to catch Cho after back-to-back birdies on the 12th, closing the gap to just one stroke, but a bogey on the par-3 17th dashed his hopes.
The Thai finished with a 70 for 281 at solo second.
Travis Smyth came in third after limping home with a 73 for 283, while Kochhar faded with a 77 for 285.
Keanu Jahns, who trailed by four shots going into the final round, struggled with a 75 but managed to finish tied for ninth with five others at 287 -- 10 strokes behind Cho -- to become the best Filipino performer in this tournament supported by BingoPlus.
“I wasn’t hitting my irons too well and I couldn’t find the rhythm early on,” Jahns admitted. “I kinda got it back towards the end with two nice birdies, but it was a bit of a struggle today.”
Jahns added the tournament served as a learning experience for him.
“Overall, I think I performed pretty okay. Obviously I was disappointed today, but I take this as a learning experience,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.