Juvic, Murakami start quest for Tour berths

Juvic Pagunsan and Artemio Murakami, the country’s former amateur hotshots, begin their quest for berths in the big league as they compete in the tough Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage unfolding today at the Palm Resort Golf and Country Club in Senai Johor, Malaysia.

Pagunsan, who capped his checkered amateur career with a gold medal performance in the recent Manila Southeast Asian Games, opens his bid at the Allamanda course while Murakami, foiled in his own attempt to break into the lucrative Japan circuit recently, kicks off his campaign at the adjacent Cempaka course, both hoping to come out strong and set in motion their respective bids for two of the 40 berths in the tour proper staked in the four-day elims.

A total of 217 players, including those who survived the grueling two-stage elims last week in various courses, vies for the precious 40 tour cards with Pagunsan and Murakami leading the local charge which includes former Asian Tour campaigners Cassius Casas, Mars Pucay, Jerome Delariarte, Cookie La’O, Tony Lascuña, Benjie Magada and Marlon Dizon.

Only the top 100 players after 36 holes will advance to the final two rounds from where the best 40 players will be culled.

This year, the Asian Tour boasts of a record 32-leg season with an unprecedented total prize purse of $23 million, including eight tournaments offering at least $1 million each. Six other tourneys are in the $500,000 to $900,000 range, thus making this a season to watch for the region’s top shotmakers.

The Philippine Open, the country’s premier golf championship, is tentatively set May 25-28 at the Pueblo de Oro in Cagayan de Oro. It, however, offers a minimum total purse of $200,000.

Murakami, the youngest player at 15 to win the national amateur crown in 1999, is paired with Kevin Chun and Rowan Beste in the 8:25 a.m. flight, while Pagunsan, winner of at least five titles last year, including the revival of the RP amateurs, tees off on No. 10 at 8:15 a.m. in the company of Swede Olle Nordberg and Ian Parnaby.

Aside from Pagunsan and Murakami, focus will also be on Casas, the comebacking former RP’s No. 1, whose game took a downswing after he lorded it over the local field in the late 90s but has vowed to regain his spot on the Tour this year.

Former Asia’s top player Frankie Miñoza and Angelo Que are the only Filipino regulars on the circuit with the latter gaining exemption following his breakthrough victory in the Vietnam Masters two years ago.

The Asian Tour, which actually kicked off its 2006 season last year with the staging of the Okinawa Open, resumes on Jan. 19 with the holding of the inaugural Pakistan Open, where Miñºoza is entered along with the other top players on the circuit, including Tour winners Mardan Mamat of Singapore, India’s Jeev Milkha Singh and Boonchu Ruangkit of Thailand. — Dante Navarro