INQUIRER Sports

SEOUL -- South Korea's Kang Ji-Man led the local charge at the Maekyung Open Golf Championship, blasting a five-under-par 67 to top the field on Thursday.

Kang fired seven birdies against two bogeys for a narrow one-stroke lead over amateur Song Tae-Hoon, who enjoyed an impressive start with a 68 in lone second spot.

Defending champion Kim Kyung-Tae was solid on his return to the Nam Seoul Country Club, posting a 69 to lie in a tie for third place alongside Lee Jin-Won, Park Sung-Kook and the Asian Tour's latest young gun, Noh Seung-Yul.

South Korea's Young Nam went round in 70 to lie in joint seventh spot.

Japan's Yoshinobu Tsukada broke the Korean dominance at the top of the pack, recording a 71 alongside Mitchell Brown of Australia and American Chris Riley in joint 13th position.

Starting on the back nine, the Seoul-based Kang was three under after nine holes before firing three more birdies against a lone dropped shot for the early lead in the 600,000-dollar event.

Amateur Song remained a stroke back while rookie Noh continued his fine form in his maiden season on the Asian Tour, firing four birdies against a lone bogey to stay within striking distance of leader Kang.

Sixteen-year-old Noh has already chalked up two runners-up finishes and a top-10 this year and has a chance to become the youngest winner on the Asian Tour.

Malaysia's Iain Steel, Taiwan's Lu Wei-chih and Filipino Artemio Murakami were five strokes off the lead.