Thai Vongchaisit seizes clubhouse lead at the start of Philippine Golf Championship

February 6 ------ Sarut Vongchaisit made his campaign felt after carding a four-under-par 68 to seize the clubhouse lead in the opening round of the Philippine Golf Championship presented by the Philippine Sports Commission at the East Course of the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City.

The Thai ace stayed solid on his back nine despite battling windy conditions, firing six birdies against two bogeys to grab an early two-stroke lead among the morning flights. “I’m feeling good. I just put on play all round and put in any bad shots, so it was definitely tough out there,” said Vongchaisit, who wrapped up last season with a title win at the Nam A Bank Vietnam Masters. “The wind… especially on my back nine, it was pretty tough. I know this course is gonna be tight,” he added.

Starting on the back nine, Vongchaisit rolled in four birdies over his first 11 holes before stumbling with a bogey on the par-5 No. 3. He quickly bounced back with a birdie on the next hole but dropped his second bogey at No. 6, then closed strong with another birdie on his penultimate hole.Taiwanese Wang Wei-hsuan, Kevin Yuan, Marcus Plunkett and Ravis Smyth came in two shots behind with identical 70s while Keanu Jahns, who teed off with Vongchaisit, was the best performing Filipino so far after shooting a 71. Jahns, the winningest player on the local circuit last year, fired three birdies to offset the two bogeys on Nos. 3 and 17.

The Fil-German admitted to having early jitters, but managed to recover quickly. “I was just trying to settle in. I was a bit nervous those first few holes, but I was able to settle in Hole 6 or 7, just trying to hit fairways, hit greens,” said Jahns in this $500,000 event supported by BingoPlus and MVPSF. “This course is a bit tricky because the fairways are firm, so you get a lot of roll out off the tees, so it’s kinda hard to judge how much it would roll out. You just need to place your balls,” he added.

Also posting 71 along with Jahns were Sarit Suwannarut, Poosit Supupramai, Ervin Chang, Rattanon Wannasrichan, Shaurya Bhattacharya and Shunyat Hak. Meanwhile, Carl Jano Corpus limped home with a 73, amateur Rolando Bregente posted a 74, and Rupert Zaragosa and Aidric Chan struggled with a 75. Other Filipinos also struggled with Michael Bibat and Antonio Lascuna shooting a 76, while amateurs Perry Bucay and Juan Laurel, James Ryan Lam, Nilo Salahog and veteran Angelo Que had 77s.

Source: mb.com.ph