Hernandez jets off to seven-shot Strokeplay lead after 65

Lost in all the hype leading into the NGAP’s National Strokeplay Championship was Jet Hernandez, who won the event in 2024 when it was last held, technically making him the defending champion.

He played like one in the first round on Wednesday, turning the Pinatubo course of Pradera Verde upside down with a well-rounded game that led to a faultless, eagle-spiked seven-under-par 65 and a whopping seven-shot lead over 13-year-old Vito Sarines.

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Everyone was then left to scamper for better position heading into the second 18 on Thursday, some of them could even be hoping that the University of Denver senior in the United States would let off a bit and let everyone back in the mix.

“Absolutely nothing,” the 21-year-old Hernandez said when the Inquirer asked how a seven-shot lead after the opening round would change his outlook for the rest of the week. “I will come out (on Thursday) with the same mindset and the same resilience. I haven’t won anything yet.”

The incoming psychology senior at UD drove the fourth green for an eagle that got him going, as he played his first nine at five-under after three birdies in a four-hole stretch from No. 6. He then showed the merciless mindset, when he birdied 12 and 17 to leave everyone in his wake.

“I was just making every putt I looked at that was inside 10 feet,” Hernandez said. “Sometimes there are days like this one, that’s why it’s important to stay focused.”

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National pool members Rolando Bregente and Chris Remata struggled in the wet conditions with 75s, and it was Jet’s brother Emilio, who was another stroke behind Sarines after a 73 even as the ladies’ side of the event quickly developed into a battle of two young guns in Lisa Sarines and Tashanah Balangauan.

The 14-year-old Lisa Sarines birdied the fifth, her 14th hole for a 70 to create more separation from Balangauan, who fired a 73, and Precious Zaragosa, the internationally seasoned 15-year-old whose only birdie came on the ninth—her last hole—which led to a 78.

“I didn’t expect to play as well as I did,” Lisa Sarines, whose only bogey came on the 18th when she found the left fairway bunker off the tee, told the Inquirer in a separate interview. “It was just that my iron play worked so well.”