Juvic Pagunsan capped a historic season on the Asian Tour, winning the prestigious Players’ Player of the Year award to go with the coveted Order of Merit crown at the St. Regis Hotel recently in Bangkok.
The 33-year-old Pagunsan will enter the Asian Tour golf annals as the second Filipino to win the OOM title in the just concluded 2011 season which came to an exciting close at the inaugural Thailand Golf Championship.
Frankie Miñoza was the first Filipino to emerge as Asia’s No. 1 in 1990.
Pagunsan’s rise was due largely to a magical November where he finished second in the lucrative Barclays Singapore Open, which earned him $666,660 (P28 million). He also registered three other top-10 finishes at the ISPS Handa Singapore Classic, Mercuries Taiwan Masters and UBS Hong Kong Open to end the year with $788,298.
The unassuming Filipino also earned the respect of his peers by picking up the Players’ Player of the Year title, which is determined through voting, after a consistent season which saw him miss only two cuts.
“It is an honor to be voted as the Players’ Player of the Year. It shows that my fellow competitors also believe in my abilities. I am proud of this achievement,” said Pagunsan, who received products from BlackBerry and Starwood Hotels and Resorts points as well for his success. – Nelson Beltran