Filipino golfers Sean Ramos, Carl Jano Corpus and Justin Quiban all advanced to the weekend after clearing the one-under cut on Thursday at the Saudi Open at Dirab Golf and Country Club.

Ramos, tied for 65th in the Order of Merit and needing a Top 20 finish to secure full 2026 status, posted a one-under 71 for a three-under total. The 22-year-old made three birdies and two bogeys, keeping his chances alive heading into Moving Day. He sits four strokes off the projected Top 20 mark.

Corpus also ended at three-under after a volatile 71, highlighted by three straight birdies on the front nine before sliding with four bogeys and two birdies coming home.

Quiban, ranked 64th in the OOM, turned in a 73 for two-under, doing just enough to extend his week.

Meanwhile, Australian Jack Thompson vaulted into the lead at the halfway point with a superb seven-under 65, giving him a one-shot edge in the $1-million Asian Tour event presented by PIF. Starting the week in 62nd place on the Order of Merit, a victory would comfortably secure his Tour card and potentially lift him to seventh.

Thompson said he is deliberately keeping his focus narrow despite the stakes.

“Just not getting too caught up in everything,” he said. “Just really trying to be in the moment for every shot. I know that my game’s good enough to compete out here and win, definitely. It would be nice, obviously, but I’m not really looking at it that way.”

He added that being in contention brings a different level of motivation:

“It’s fun to be up the top and playing because sometimes if you just make the cut, you’re happy to play four rounds. But sometimes it can be pointless — make a birdie and you might move up a couple spots. It’s always fun when it means something.”

Swede Bjorn Hellgren matched Thompson’s 65 to sit solo second after opening with an eagle on the par-5 10th and riding that momentum to six birdies on the day. Hellgren said a much-needed mental reset after an exhausting stretch of tournaments has been transformative.

“I played 10 tournaments in 11–12 weeks… I broke so many clubs. I was behaving bad on the course, off the course,” he admitted. “After the big one in Saudi, I went home and just sat on the couch for eight days, playing with my little son. Then I went to Spain and actually had fun on the golf course for the first time in a long time. It’s been huge for me to just relax a little bit.”

Malaysia’s Ervin Chang (64) and Thailand’s Runchanapong Youprayong (66) follow at one shot back as both chase last-minute bids to retain their Tour cards.

Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond (68) is part of the group tied for fifth with defending champion John Catlin (69) and first-round leader Saptak Talwar (70). Jazz, the 2019 Order of Merit winner, said he has been rebuilding his swing piece by piece after a difficult 2023.

“I was in a very bad spot… couldn’t find fairways, couldn’t find greens, and I didn’t understand what I was doing,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff I did in 2019 that I didn’t do in 2023, and I tried to implement a lot of that.”