After a couple of 71s that easily qualified him in the final two rounds of the tough four-day elims among 217 aspirants from all over, the 27-year-old Pagunsan proved he’s ready for the big time by firing the day’s best score at the Cempaka course to leapfrog from joint 50th to a share of eighth place at 207.
That put the SEA Games gold medalist to within five strokes of Australians Anthony Brown and Brad Kennedy and Lee Sung-man of Korea, who shared the lead with 202s heading into the final round of the event which stakes 40 Asian Tour cards.
Brown also fired a 65 at the adjacent Allamanda course while Lee and Kennedy had 70 and 71, respectively.
Pagunsan, raring to join the big guns in the money-rich pro tour, hopes to sustain his charge in the company of Robin Hodgetts of Australia and Ari Savolainen of Finland and in a bid to put himself in contention for the top spot.
But while Pagunsan sizzled, the four other Filipino hopefuls sputtered and in danger of missing the top 40 cast.