Celebrating his return to the Asian Main Tour with a vengeance, the Chandigarh professional set a course record on the famous East Course at Wack Wack Golf & Country Club, shooting an astounding bogey-free seven under par 65 to take the third-round lead in the Philippine Golf Championship, the maiden tournament of the 2026 tour.
But after playing a scorching round he faltered in the final round with a forgettable five over par 77 to finish fourth on the final order of merit with a tournament total of three under par 285 (74, 69, 65, 77), behind Wooyoung Cho of Korea 11 under par 277 (69, 70, 71, 67), Pavit Tangkamolprasert of Thailand seven under par 281 (72, 71, 68, 70) and Travis Smyth of Australia five under par 283 (70, 69, 71, 73)
The US $ 50,000 prize money tournament was staged from Feb 5-8
According to information available on the official website of the Asian Tour (https://www.asiantour.com/), breaking par on the East Course – respected for being one of the most challenging courses in the region – is in itself an outstanding achievement. And in that context, Karandeep Kochhar’s (course record breaking third round of seven under par 65, therefore, may well remain as the performance of the year on the Asian Tour, even though the Philippine Golf Championship was the season-opening event on the tour.
The professional golfer from Chandigarh, who finished in the top-10 on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) Order of Merit last year to regain his Asian Tour card for 2026 season, sunk seven birdies (one under pars): four in the first six holes, back-to-back ones on 11 and 12 and the final one on the legendary par-three 17th hole that allowed him to break the previous course record by one.
His round could not have come at a more opportune time since the player shooting the lowest score each day of the tournament won a cheque for US$10,000, sponsored by the host club.
Karandeep, currently ranked 788 on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), is back to the Asian Tour full time this year after finishing fifth on the ADT Merit list at the conclusion of the 2025 season, during which he won the Egypt Golf Series – Red Sea Open and had a runner-up result in Morocco.
He had impressed on the Asian Tour in 2022 and 2023 but surprisingly lost his card in 2024.
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According to the Asian Tour website, for Wooyoung Cho of Korea (OWGR Ranking 387) Philippine Golf Championship title was his maiden triumph on the tour, two years after being part of the Korean team that famously claimed the gold medal at the Asian Games.
Second placed in the Philippine Golf Championship 2026, Pavit Tangkamolprasert (OWGR Ranking 469) is one of Thailand’s most successful players on the Asian Tour, having triumphed on two occasions: in the 2016 Macau Open and the Sabah Masters, three years later. Both times he won in sudden-death play-offs.
Aussie Travis Smyth (OWGR Ranking 335), who finished third in the order of merit in the Philippine Golf Championship 2026, has had quite a few strong performances, including a second-place finish in the International Series England in June 2022. He recorded his breakthrough victory on the Asian Tour at the Yeangder TPC in September 2022.
The next tournament of the 15-event Asian Tour 2026 is the NZ $ 2,000,000 prize money 105th New Zealand Open to be played at the Millbrook Golf Resort in New Zealand from Feb 26 – Mar 1.
