Moon Do-yup surges to lead at Shinhan Donghae Open, edging out Japanese rivals

Moon Do-yup holds a one-stroke lead at the 42nd Shinhan Donghae Open, a co-sanctioned event on the Korean and Japanese men's tours, with two weeks to go before his Asian Games debut. The tournament carries a purse of 1.5 billion won ($1.12 million).

Moon carded a 7-under-par 65 on Friday at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea's Urban Links course in Songdo, Incheon — a par-72 layout stretching 7,502 yards — with nine birdies against two bogeys. His two-round total of 10-under 134 puts him one stroke ahead of Japan's Ohori Yuijiro heading into the weekend.

Moon drove his round with precise iron play and steady putting, birdieing all four par-3 holes — widely regarded as the most demanding on the course for professionals.

He made four birdies and two bogeys on the front nine for a net gain of two strokes, then turned up the pressure on the back nine with five birdies and no bogeys. He closed with back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th holes, holing putts of 3.3 meters and 4.5 meters to vault to the top of the leaderboard.

Moon will compete at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, which open Sept. 30, alongside Kim Ju-hyung and Kim Sung-hyun, with the team targeting gold in both the individual and team events. His experience competing against world-class players on the LIV Golf circuit this season is expected to serve him well.

"Playing against top players in the world, what I took away was how important it is to control momentum," Moon said. "The top-ranked players recover well with their short game when they make mistakes, and when opportunities come, they hole the putts and really ride the momentum. I was reminded again just how crucial the short game is."

Moon also spoke about his mindset heading into the Asian Games. "There are about two weeks left before the Asian Games, and I'd like to go in with my confidence up," he said. "The Japanese players are our rivals — they're truly outstanding, and they'll have home advantage, so I expect them to put on a strong showing."

Ok Tae-hoon fired a sizzling front-nine 29 — seven birdies, no bogeys — on his way to a 6-under 66, and sits in a tie for third at 8-under 136 alongside Jang Yu-bin, who has posted back-to-back 4-under rounds.

Ok, who started on the 10th hole, reeled off five consecutive birdies from the 14th hole and added two more on the 17th and 18th, but a double bogey on the par-4 sixth hole on the back nine — after finding the rough — cost him a chance at the lead.

The winner will receive 300 million won along with a five-year KPGA Tour exemption and a two-year Japan Golf Tour Organization exemption.

Lee Sang-hee, who won the KBC Augusta on the Japan Tour on Aug. 30, shot a 5-under 67 and is tied for fifth at 7-under 137 alongside Jeon Jae-han and Lee Tae-hoon of Canada.

Kim Bi-o carded back-to-back 3-under 69s to sit at 6-under 138, tied for eighth with Hwang Jung-gon, Park Eun-shin and Japan's Sunagawa Kosuke.

Park Sang-hyun, who shared fourth place one stroke off the lead after the opening round, fell to a tie for 33rd at 2-under 142 after dropping two strokes.