JAHNS, CONCEPCION CARD 71S, TRAIL THAI LEADER BY 3

MANILA, Philippines — Keanu Jahns made the most of an early start, carding a 71 to grab a share of 10th spot in the opening round of the Philippine Golf Championship, paced by Thailand’s Sarut Vongchaisit at Wack Wack’s East Course on Thursday.

The flat but demanding layout lived up to its tough billing, yielding just 21 sub-par scores, including Vongchaisit’s 68. His six-birdie, two-bogey round propelled him to the lead of the $500,000 championship, the kickoff leg of this year’s Asian Tour.

Jahns, the winningest player on last year’s Philippine Golf Tour with three victories, had hoped to capitalize on his early tee time but managed only a birdie and a bogey in a backside start. The big-hitting Filipino-German, however, rallied with two birdies against one bogey over his final nine holes to finish at one-under.

Fidel Concepcion matched Jahns’ one-under card on a hot and windy day as the local bets kept the foreign frontrunners within reach.

Charles Porter and Jeunghun Wang, along with fellow Korean Wooyoung Cho, fired identical 69s to stalk the Thai leader, while five others turned in 70s to keep the leaderboard crowded in what looms as a wide-open battle.

The rest of the Filipino contingent struggled, including three-time Asian Tour winner Angelo Que, who stumbled to an uncharacteristic 77 and slid to tied 101st in the 144-player field, placing him in danger of missing the cut.

Que, the 2008 Philippine Open champion at Wack Wack, failed to recover from bogeys on Nos. 1 and 3. Although he birdied the third, he dropped three more shots over the next five holes to make the turn at 40. A birdie on No. 13 provided brief relief before consecutive closing bogeys sealed a five-over-par round.

Jhonnel Ababa and Brycen Ko carded even-par 72s to share 22nd, while Carl Corpus posted a 73. Justin Quiban, Sean Ramos, Mars Pucay and amateur Rolando Bregente all shot 74s.

Rupert Zaragosa, Justin Delos Santos and Aidric Chan finished with 75s, while Michael Bibat, Tony Lascuña, Rico Depilo, Reymon Jaraula, Zanieboy Gialon and Enrique Dimayuga labored to 76s and likewise face an uphill battle to make the cut.

Despite taking a two-week break during the offseason, Vongchaisit showed no signs of rust.

“I’m feeling good. I just put it in play and my all-around game was solid — no bad shots,” said the 26-year-old Thai, who claimed his maiden professional victory at last year’s Vietnam Masters on the Asian Development Tour.

“It’s definitely tough out there with the wind, especially on the back nine, which was my front. I prepared well for this course. It’s tight, so I hit a lot of rescues off the tee. I’ve been practicing that a lot,” he added.

Porter notched six birdies against three bogeys, while Wang caught fire with five birdies over a seven-hole stretch from No. 12 to offset two bogeys on the front. 

Cho, meanwhile, surged on the back nine with four birdies after a two-bogey, one-birdie opening half as they kept Vongchaisit within sight.

2026-02-05T12:31:23Z