Jahns, Concepcion put pressure on PH Cup leaders
Keanu Jahns battled early round jitters and Fidel Concepcion opted to play it conservatively and the duo, which had success on the local tour over traditional courses last year, carried local hopes after the first round of the $500,000 Philippine Cup Championship at Wack Wack East.
With both gunning down three birdies against two bogeys for one-under-par 71s, Jahns and Concepcion will come into Friday’s second round trailing Thailand’s Sarut Vongchaisit by three shots even as the bulk of the local contingent held its ground on the tree-lined layout that yielded just 21 sub-par rounds.
“I was a bit nervous and just tried to settle in,” said Jahns, regarded as the longest hitter on the PGT and who won last year at Binitin in Murcia Town in Bacolod. “This course is a bit tricky, so one- or two-under is pretty good.”
Driver twice
Vongchaisit seemed to be very much comfortable coming out in one of the early flights, as he gunned down six birdies in a 35-33 effort to lead a three-man group that counted American Charles Porter and two South Koreans that combined for 17 birdies but just shot 69s for a nine-under total.
“It was definitely tough out there,” Vongchaisit said. “I knew that this course was going to be very tight (to play), so I needed to rescue a lot of my tee shots.”
Concepcion, who waited a long time to break through last year, doing it at Apo Golf in Davao, took the driver out of the bag just twice in navigating the old layout that used to be the home of the Philippine Open.
“Yeah, the whole day,” Concepcion said. “It was all about laying up to the fattest parts of the fairway the whole day. The key here is you want to hit most of the fairways so you have control of the ball.”
Inside cut line
Jonel Ababa and Brycen Ko fired 72s, with Carl Corpus shooting a 73 to stay well within the mix, but needing low second rounds to be able to be in a prime position heading into the money rounds.
Amateur Rolando Bregente, who belongs to the Eastridge stable, tied Justin Quiban, Mars Pucay and Sean Ramos in a 19-man group sharing 48th spot at 75, well inside the projected cut line.
Former Asian Tour Order of Merit winner Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand assembled a 76 to tie Sampson Zheng, the long-hitting Chinese who crowded Miguel Tabuena in the final round of the International Series Philippines at Sta. Elena last October.
