Seoul, May 4: Gaganjeet Bhullar, who was in contention at the midway stage of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open had a second straight disappointing round over the weekend. Bhullar, a former runner-up at the same event, shot 7-over 78, one of his worst rounds.
After 70-68 on the first two days, Bhullar crashed to 74-78 and finished at 6-over 290 and ended T-54th. On the final day, Bhullar had five bogeys and a double bogey and his last five holes saw him go 5-over.
Bhullar’s season has been modest and he has not had a Top-10 this year in 2025. His last Top-10 was T-7 in Qatar last October.
Bhullar’s last win was on the Indian Tour in April 2024 and his last international win was in Indonesia in November 2023. Next week Bhullar plays the International Series, Japan.
Korean Doyeob Mun has a sensational back nine with six birdies and rocketed to a sizzling bogey-free eight-under-par 63. After being six behind the leaders at the start of the day and playing nine groups ahead of the final pairing, Mun stormed through with six birdies in the second half. That included four-in-row from the 11th.
Mun posted his 10-under par total two hours before the final players finished, anxiously waiting to see if he would be caught.
Mun won by three shots from Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, and two Koreans Baekjun Kim and Junghwan Lee.
Jazz missed makeable birdie putts on 14 and 15 and later bogeyed the last while Canadian Yonggu Shin birdied 13 and 14 to move one back but then dropped a shot on the 17th, before a catastrophic 10 on 18. He ended in a tie for 12th.
Mun’s run for the title was fast and furious. After making those four successive birdies he was one shot behind Jazz, who had just made the turn.
The Korean soon joined Jazz in the lead on nine under after another birdie on 16 before making a birdie on the last for sole possession of first. He hit a majestic second shot on the difficult par-four 18th to six feet to set up one of only three birdies there today. And when Jazz dropped a shot on 13 Mun led by two in the clubhouse. He was hitting balls on the range in case of a play-off before events unfolded in his favour.
Ultimately he won by a comfortable margin of three shots.
Mun said, “The last three holes at Namseoul Country Club are particularly tricky. I focused on playing steady and making par rather than being aggressive. I wasn’t aiming for birdies, just putting the ball in the right position.”
It is his first win on the Asian Tour and fourth on the Korean PGA Tour, as this week’s event is sanctioned with the local body. He last triumphed in Korea in 2022.
The 33-year-old has played regularly on the Asian Tour since 2018, having made it through qualifying school in 2018 and this year, when he placed third. Previously, his best finish on tour came at the Shinhan Donghae Open in 2018, when he was joint fourth, and he also finished in the top five at the Singapore Open in 2019 and 2022.
Jazz, who shared the lead at the start of the day with Baekjun Kim, was bidding to become the first overseas player to win this event in 21 years but faded on the back nine, playing it in two over.
