Wang completed his country's mandatory military obligations in July last year and credited his mental toughness for putting together a commanding round, posting a six-under-par 66 at the Laguna National Golf Resort Club.

"I missed golf a lot when I had to be away from the game for 18 months. I was just shooting guns every day," said the 27-year-old.

"I had to work on my short game as it got rusty. But mentally, I improved a lot. I'm playing a lot better than before now."

Wang marked his card with only one birdie on the par-five three in his opening front-nine. But his game came to life after the turn when he went on a stunning five-hole birdie blitz, starting from the par-four 12.

His charge was briefly halted after he dropped a shot on 17 but he recovered quickly with a closing birdie on 18 to sign for a three-day total of 14-under-par 202.

Del Rey got off to a blistering start with three opening birdies. He made five straight pars before dropping a shot on nine to turn in 33.

The Spaniard then mixed his card with four birdies, two bogeys and an eagle in his inward-nine for a round of 66.

"To get it going that early was a great feeling. I thought I didn't play as well as yesterday but still managed to get a low round," he said.

"It was still a good round to go out and shoot six-under without my best stuff."

Chinese amateur Ding Wenyi, who took the second-round lead after returning early to complete his four remaining holes, had a round to forget as he signed for a 76 to slip to a share of 21st place at the Singapore Classic, with the DP World Tour returning to Singapore for the first time since 2014.

© 2023 AFP