Thai surges in crowded leaderboard

ILOILO: Thai Kammalas Namuangruk emerged on top of a crowded leaderboard that kept changing names up to the last putt, his run of closing even-par cards at the front preserving a two-under 68 and netting him a one-stroke lead over Michael Bibat and three others halfway through the ICTSI Iloilo Golf Challenge here on Thursday.

As first round leader Makoto Iwasaki of Japan turned from awesome (64) to awful (76) at the short but tricky Iloilo Golf and Country Club layout, Namuangruk took command with a four birdie-two bogey effort under drizzle although the lead changed hands a lot of times before the Thai found himself on top at 134 at the end of the topsy-turvy day.