Jahns ready for tough grind at Binitin
With the premium to be on precision more than anything in the next two weeks, starting with the PGT’s stop at the former Binitin course in Murcia town in Bacolod, Keanu Jahns is already thinking how to best play the relatively short but tight layout—and that is not to overpower it.
“I will just stick to my routine and commit to every shot,” Jahns, one of the longest hitters on tour, said as he gears up for the ICTSI Bacolod Golf Challenge starting on Tuesday where he has a chance to win back-to-back events for the first time in his pro career.
“One shot at a time,” he went on when asked how he would play the over 6,000-yard layout whose roughs are lined by towering, age-old trees. “That has always been my goal.”
The 29-year-old Filipino-German will be coming off an impressive victory over Angelo Que at Caliraya Springs more than two weeks ago, and being able to hit it a mile has certainly made him the odds-on pick to prevail in the P2 million event.
But Binitin is not an easy nut to crack, as slight misses from the tee could lead to big numbers.
Que, meanwhile, will be shooting to win a third leg this season after he wound up on the shorter end of a birdie duel with Jahns in Cavinti in Laguna.
And it will not be a two-horse race with the old guards and the rising young guns like Carl Corpuz, Sean Ramos and Aidric Chan also entered, and with four-time Order of Merit champion Antonio Lascuña coming in far better prepared than he was going to Caliraya.
“I had the time to practice more this time,” Lascuña had told the Inquirer during practice at Manila Southwoods last week. “I want to be contending for titles again. I feel that I still have what it takes.”
Clyde Mondilla, another former PH Open champion like Que, is also entered like Dutchman Guido van der Valk. Both also loom as players to watch.
After Binitin, the field will be up for a tougher test in the Negros Occidental Golf Championship at the layout formerly known as Marapara.
