That an amateur hotshot towed the elite men of the tour with a 211 heading into the final round of this four-day event spoke well of the caliber of the player who came here trying to fine-tune his craft on his final year in the amateur ranks but has now found himself on the verge of rewriting history on the tough Asian Tour.
"Gumanda ang driving, yun ang key ng laro ko dahil madalas akong mag-duckhook," said the 25-year-old Pagunsan, whose lean frame belies his tremendous power off the tee and whose mental toughness moved him to within 18 holes from duplicating Hsu Sheng-San’s feat in 1967 when the Taiwanese snatched the Open crown as an amateur.
But grabbing a lead share in a tournament of this magnitude, where two former champions – Cassius Casas and Gerald Rosales – failed to make it to the Open weekend, is one thing. Sustaining it all the way to the championship is another.
There’s Groom, who made sure he would come in his Sunday’s best as the Aussie bet, who led in the first round with a 65 but reeled back the next day with a 75, got back atop the leaderboard with a gutsy 71 spiked by two birdies on the last nine holes.
There’s Edward Michaels, the only other player who was able to tame the winds with a brilliant 69, putting the American campaigner two strokes behind the joint leaders and well within reach of the top $24,225 purse in this event presented by San Miguel Corp. and sponsored by DHL Express.
One day after boasting his preference to play in a windy course like Langer, Jeev Milkha Singh found himself getting blown by the gusts and found the layout’s Nos. 9, 10 and 11 not to his liking when the fancied Indian dropped four precious strokes in the stretch, including a double-bogey on the par-5 10th when he drove out of bounds.
"The whole world was on the right and I hit it to the left. It was a mental error that cost me three strokes," rued Singh, referring to the wide fairway of No. 10 considered as a birdie-hole. From No. 1, the 33-year-old former European Tour campaigner slid to third at 214, three strokes off the pace.
Richard Moir of Australia carded a 73 to share fifth place with Jonathan Cheetham of England, shooting a 74, at 215, while a stroke farther back at 216 were another Indian Amandeep Johl (75) and Tony Lascuna, the top local pro in hunt for the crown who made a 73.
The rest could be too far behind the leaders, but under the prevailing conditions here at one of the country’s toughest courses, even Adam Fraser of Australia (74) and Taiwan’s Chen Yuan-chi (73) have chances of pulling off a big weekend surprise with 218s, seven adrift.
Still, the advantage could be on Pagunsan’s side.
"Hindi naman ako nate-tense dahil hindi naman ako nape-pressure sa premyo dito," said Pagunsan, referring to the juicy purse which he is not entitled for.
But the many-time spearhead of the national squad and a former SEA Games gold medalist is raring to put a fitting ending to what has been a wild and wooly week here with another under-par output.
"Pero depende pa rin yan sa kondisyon, pag maganda ang driving eh di pipilitin natin," he said.
Six behind Singh at the start of the round, Pagunsan birdied three of his first nine holes to negate a three-putt bogey mishap on No. 7 for a two-under card to close within three off Singh who had a one-over frontnine stint.
He gunned down a five-footer for birdie on the 10th, missed the green on the next for bogey but saved two pars in his next three before salvaging a crucial 6-iron approach shot on the tricky No. 15 with one foot on the hazard area.
That gave him the impetus to close out with that birdie splurge, a gimme on No. 16, an eight-footer on the next and another tap-in birdie on the 18th.