Pagunsan, men’s golf team too classy

The RP men’s golf squad proved too classy and ran away with both the individual and team crowns but the RP ladies fell short of their gold medal bid and settled for two silvers at the close of the golf competitions of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games at The Country Club in Laguna yesterday.

Juvic Pagunsan shot an eagle-spiked 65 to cap his final stint in the amateur ranks as he posted what appeared to be the biggest winning margin recorded in SEAG golf — a whopping 14-stroke victory over Thai bet Ekalak Waisayul.

Pagunsan, 27, closed out the 72-hole tournament with an impressive 13-under 267, which included rounds two 69s and a sizzling 64 that put the ace Filipino shotmaker out of reach of the field Saturday. Still, he wanted to make a statement and he dramatized this by firing that five-under 65, spiked by a flawless 31 at the backside of the wind-raked layout.

"I’m so happy to win this one," said Pagunsan in Filipino, who had to defer his earlier plans to join the pro ranks to ensure the country’s gold medal romp here. He is set to join the Asian Tour qualifiers in Malaysia in January.

Happier were his teammates Michael Bibat, Jay Bayron and Marvin Dumandan, who joined Pagunsan in the podium to receive the team crown, which they also won in runaway fashion.

Bibat, the former Singapore Amateur Open champion, backed Pagunsan with a 68 while either Bayron or Dumandan’s 71 counted for the team, which shot its best round in the tournament, a 204 for an 833 and a 17-stroke victory over Singapore.

The same, however, could not be said of the RP ladies as Jayvie Agojo, leader with one round to go, got hobbled by poor putting all day and got clobbered by Thai Nontaya Srisawang in their battle for the gold medal.

Agojo, on a break at the Pepperdine University where she is a golf scholar, had three three-putt bogeys and wound up with a 72 for a 54-hole aggregate of 213 and lost by four shots to Srisawang, who fired a closing 66 to prevail with a 209.

Frances Bondad, a Fil-Australian who won the recent RP Amateurs, also matched par 72 for a 215 and lost her bid for the bronze to another Thai bet, Sukintorn Saensradi, who also had a 72 and a 214.

With Anya Tanpinco failing to count again with a 73, the RP ladies settled for a 144 and the team blew its bid for the team gold with a 428, nine strokes behind Thailand’s 419 after a 138.

With a two-gold, two-silver haul, the Philippines took the overall crown in the sport with Pagunsan retaining the individual title he won when the sport was last played in Kuala Lumpur in 2001. Golf was not played in the 2003 SEAG in Vietnam. — Dante Navarro