Thanyakon Khrongpha of Thailand and Himmat Rai of India produced a pair of four-under par 68s in hot, humid condition in morning play yesterday, sharing the lead in the opener of the ICTSI Philippine Open marred by a lightning delay midway in the afternoon.

At resumption, no one turned in no lower than 69 at the tough Wack Wack’s east layout, enabling two of Asian Tour’s emerging stars to take charge in the $300,000 event but as provisional leaders as play was suspended due to darkness.

Khrongpha and Rai, plus a slew of others, took advantage of their early morning start to shoot those 68s, one stroke ahead of veteran and former Phl Open winner Wang Ter-chang of Taiwan, Berry Henson of Australai, Peter Karmis of South Africa and Filipinos Marvin Dumandan, Mars Pucay and Jay Bayron.

“You need to keep the ball in play and that’s what I did. If you find the fairways, you have a very strong chance of scoring because the greens are excellent,” said the 23-year-old Rai who finished tied for fifth in last week’s Impian Classic in Malaysia in the Asian Development Tour.

Thanyakon, on the other hand, flashed a superb iron play that set up six birdies inside three feet.

“My iron shots were excellent. This is a very difficult golf course and you need to stay patient which I did,” said the 20-year-old Thai.

Another Thai bet Prom Meesawat, coming off a victory in the Asean Tour last week, Japanese Daisuke Kataoka and Takafumi Kawane, Australian Gavin Flint and India’s Digvijay Singh shot 70s.