Gunn Yang leads after Round 2 of KIA Open

QUITO, Ecuador – Gunn Yang carded a bogey-free, 6-under 66 and leads by two after 36 holes at the KIA Open. Four players are tied for second at 9-under entering the third round Saturday at Quito Tenis y Golf Club.

After playing eight events on PGA TOUR Canada in 2023, Yang notched four top 25s with seven made cuts and finished 45th in the Fortinet Cup standings to gain membership into the inaugural season of PGA TOUR Americas. In four starts this season, the 30-year-old's best finish was at the Totalplay Championship at Atlas Country Club where he finished T55.

Yang turned professional in 2017, not long after playing nine events on the PGA TOUR schedule during the 2014-15 season as a sophomore at San Diego State University. He has made appearances at the Masters Tournament, the U.S. Open and The Open Championship, and his best finish came at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial where he finished T65.

Yang’s amateur highlights include being the highest-finishing amateur at the Mazda NSW Open in Australia, where he took fourth overall at 12-under, and most notably, claiming the 2014 U.S. Amateur Championship title. Yang won six straight matches and defeated current PGA TOUR member Corey Conners 2 and 1 to claim the victory. Yang became San Deigo State University’s second U.S. Amateur champion since Gene Littler in 1953.

Third-round tee times begin at 8:27 a.m. ET and will run until 1:15 p.m. ET off the No. 1 tee on Saturday.

About Gunn Yang (T1/-11)

Age: 30
Birthplace: Pyeong Chang, South Korea
Residence: San Diego, California
College: San Diego State University
Fortinet Cup (start of week): T123

• In 2014, won the U.S. Amateur defeating Corey Conners, 2 and 1, in the final round of the championship at Atlanta Athletic Club; became the second South Korean to claim the U.S. Amateur title
• Made his first cut on the PGA TOUR at the Crowne Plaza Invitational, where he was T15 after the second round, but finished T65; competed in his first major championship in 2015 at the Masters Tournament (MC)
• Yang on his family: "We have moved around about seven times in three different continents in the last 12 years. My parents provided me and my brother to see bigger things and enjoy and experience different cultures. Definitely helped with our education and my golf."
• Earliest golf memory is when Tiger Woods made his signature chip shot on 16th hole at the 2005 Masters: "That is when I had first dream of becoming a professional golfer like him."
• "Firestone" by Kygo would be his first-tee intro song

Competition notes

Course setup: Par 72, 7,412 yards; Cumulative average: 71.340
Weather: Cloudy with a high of 62. Wind from the northwest at 1-4 mph with gusts up to 9 mph

• The lowest round of the day was 6-under par, carded by: Gunn Yang (first, 11-under), Flint Bekkers (T9, 7-under) and Skyler Finnell (T47, 3-under).
• Champion of the 2015 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica KIA Open Ricardo Celia carded rounds of 68-67 (9-under) and is tied for second place.
• Ecuador native Felipe Garcés is the first amateur to make a cut this season (T2, 9-under).
• Two Canadians finished Round 2 inside the top 20: Joey Savoie (T9, 7-under) and Matthew Anderson (T16, 6-under).
• Four Monday Qualifiers moved onto weekend play: Diego Vanegas (T9, 7-under), Austen Christiansen (T22, 5-under), Mauro Baez Julien (T32, 4-under) and Martin Contini (T47, 3-under).
• Quito Tenis y Golf Club played 0.660 strokes under par through two rounds; the hardest hole on the golf course is No. 6 – the 220-yard par 3, which averaged a +0.270.