Thai in hot start; Jahns, Concepcion down by three

MANILA, Philippines —  Thai Sarut Vongchaisit made the most of the more favorable conditions of the morning flights – and his familiarity with cow grass courses – to seize control in the Philippine Golf Championship presented by the Philippine Sports Commission yesterday.

Starting from the backside, Vongchaisit gunned down three early birdies and survived the treacherous 17th hole of the Wack Wack East Course with a 20-foot par-saving putt to get things going at three-under.

The 26-year-old parbuster then mixed three birdies with two bogeys in the front nine to card a four-under 68 that vaulted him to the summit ahead of towering American Charles Porter and Korean pair Jeunghun Wang and Wooyoung Cho, who matched 69s.

Keanu Jahns and Fidel Concepcion carried the fight for the local boys, firing identical 71s to stay just three shots off the pace.

Vonchaisit’s fine work in Day 1 of the Asian Tour kick-off  tourney also sponsored by BingoPlus netted him a cool $10,000 that Wack Wack earmarked for the player with the lowest score everyday. He received his cash prize from Wack Wack president Benjamin Abalos.

“It was definitely good,” he said about his round. “I had a hot start in my first nine and I started in the morning so the wind was kind of calm. Then it kind of got a little bit hard in my last nine but get through it and have a good finish.”

Vonchaisit credited his putting game for carrying him through in the opening round.

“All my birdies usually came from a lot of mid-range putts, so my putter was hot today. That was the key and definitely my driver and off the tee put in a lot of fairways so that definitely helps,” he said.