Zaragosa, Jahns faves as DHL tilt gets going

KEANU Jahns, a tall half-German scoring machine, and Rupert Zaragosa, the former age-group world champion, are the favorites when the 18th WWWExpress-DHL Amateur Golf championship fires off today at Canlubang North in Laguna.

The 72-hole event presented by the MVP Sports Foundation is the first tournament for Jahns since his amazing performance for Alabang in the recent Philippine Airlines Interclub in Cebu.

The pint-sized Zaragosa, meanwhile, is an obvious pick because of his familiarity of the course.

Zaragosa did not play in Cebu, where Jahns shot a seven-under-par 137 in two rounds at Cebu Country Club, a layout that has many similarities to Canlubang.

Lloyd Jefferson Go and Japanese Gen Nagai, two of the heroes for the repeat champ Cebu CC, are also entered even as close to 20 Koreans seek to duplicate Shin Jin-woo’s title feat last year.

Andres Saldaña and Justin Quiban are also seeing action in the tournament backed by Pancake House, Nike, Golf Depot and Pacsports.

Tommy Manotoc, president of the National Golf Association of the Philippines, said this event, part of the PLDT Group Amateur Tour, will be used to determine members of the Philippine pool.

The entire ICTSI team will see action in a 54-hole women’s event that tees off tomorrow. Musong R. Castillo