MANILA, 27 May 2006 — Juvic Pagunsan, after working overtime Thursday night, got himself in the mix early and looks ready to contend for the Philippine Open golf championship for the third straight year.
Cookie La’O, after surprising everyone by being the best-placed Filipino after the first 18 holes, stumbled a little.
And after 36 holes of Asia’s oldest national championship, the mortality rate as far as the hosts were concerned was enormous, with 30 of 46 entries missing the cut, including former champion Cassius Casas.
Pagunsan worked on an erratic driver well after the opening round Thursday night and came into yesterday’s second round with renewed focus to fire a two-under 70 and vault into joint fourth, just four shots off the lead being held by Scott Strange and 1993 winner Chang Ting-yeh. Finding the fairways consistently, Pagunsan, who finished in the top 10 in each of the last two years as an amateur, fired at pins with precision and later on swore that had he gotten the breaks, joining Strange and the Taiwanese on top would have been easy.
The 28-year-old had six birdies against four bogeys and is looking at weekend play with a lot of confidence. He is actually playing in a professional tournament in his native Philippines for only the second time after winning the rich The Country Club Invitational last February.
After opening with a 70 on Thursday, La’O, meanwhile, didn’t get a lot of chances, struggling to post a 74 to drop to a share of 12th with a 144 tally, where he was joined by 1991 winner, burly Robert Pactolerin, who posted a 70.
Strange, the 29-year-old, Perth-based winner of the Myanmar Open last year, battled to a second round 70 and missed taking the lead by his lonesome when his grip on his approach in the final hole slipped resulting in bogey
Yeh climbed into a share of the lead by submitting a 69 even as Englishman Chris Rodgers, the reigning Pakistan Open champion, matched that output to be in third, another shot back, at 139.
In a related development, Wack Wack president Ben Abalos, Asian Tour chief executive Louis Martin and National Golf Association of the Philippines president Leandro Mendoza announced an increase of $300,000 in the prize money for next year. This, aside from the Philippine Open, which is now on its 90th playing, becoming the kickoff leg of the booming Asian Tour and for the event to be held in Wack Wack for at least the next two years.
“This augurs well for the development of golf in the Philippines,” Abalos later on told a gathering of local and international media.
Casas, once described to be the next big Filipino star in the international scene, never got into groove, following up his first round 79 with a 78 for a 157, seven strokes off the cut-off mark. Gerald Rosales, the 2000 winner at The Riviera in Silang, Cavite and the second placer behind Aussie Adam Le Vesconte last year, matched par for a 145, the same total held by Jherome Delariarte, who fired a 69.
Marvin Dumandan fired a 74 and continued to lead the amateur race with a 147 as Jay Bayron, now the RP amateur ace with Pagunsan turning pro at the start of the year, stood a stroke back after a 73 for 148 and Michael Bibat firing a 74 for 150.
The other noted Filipino casualties were Rey Pagunsan (76-151), Tony Lascuna (75-153) Antolin Fernando (73-153), former amateur champ Jun Bernis (78-154), Carito Villaroman (79-163) and amateurs Tonlits Asistio (78-156), Matthew Manotoc (80-170) and John Policarpio (89-171).
