Juvic, Miguel head home cast in 98th Philippine Open

MANILA, Philippines - Juvic Pagunsan and Miguel Tabuena will hold fort for the local bets when they slug it out with a crack international field in the 98th Philippine Open unfolding Dec. 17 at the Luisita Golf and Country Club in Tarlac.

With the Japan PGA Tour winding up its season last week, Pagunsan has made himself available for the upcoming $300,000 event where he will be seeking the championship lacking in his vast trophy collection.

The smooth-swinging Filipino shotmaker will also be making a sort of homecoming on the Asian Tour, where he captured the Order of Merit title in 2011 to gain a card in the lucrative Japan PGA circuit, his base the last four years.

Pagunsan will also be shooting for a second local victory after dominating the Asian Development Tour field in the Aboitiz Invitational at Manila Southwoods last August.

Tabuena, on the other hand, hopes to cap a brilliant season with a victory in the country’s national Open after the 21-year-old shotmaker ended Tony Lascuña’s three-year reign as the Phl No. 1 by winning this year’s OOM title of the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour.

He actually holds the course record of 22-under-par at Luisita following his nine-shot romp in the Central Azucarera De Tarlac Open of the PGT last September, making him all the more among the favorites to win the country’s premier and Asia’s oldest golf championship.

“If he stays on course, he might be able to win his first Philippine Open,” said National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) president Carlos Coscolluela during yesterday’s PSA Forum at Shakey’s Malate.

The closest the young Filipino player came to winning the Open was in 2012 when he trailed eventual champion Mardan Mamat of Singapore by just one entering the final day only to miss one shot after the other to finish with an 81.

Mamat will also be back this year, along with defending champion Marcus Both of Australia as they head the charge of the foreign players who will vie for the champion’s purse worth $60,000.

In all, 92 foreigners make up the 128-player roster, including the top four amateurs in the country today who get to be invited by the NGAP, according to federation secretary-general Jose Iñigo, who also appeared in the forum.

The last three stagings of the tournament were held at Wack Wack, but through the initiative of NGAP director Martin Lorenzo, the premier event was brought to Tarlac in a bid to bring the Open around the country.

“We want a large part of the Filipinos to be able to watch the best golfers in Asia in action,” said Coscolluela.

Others tipped to contend for the crown are Thais Thaworn Wiratchant, Prayad Marksaeng, Danthai Boonma Chapnai Nirat and Prom Meesawat, India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar, Englishman Steve Lewton, Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh, former champion Berry Henson of the US, Seukhyun Baek and Jeunghun Wang of Korea and Adam Groom and Sam Brazel of Australia.

Angelo Que, meanwhile, joins Pagunsan and Tabuena in the local roster along with Lascuña, Elmer Salvador, Jay Bayron and former Open winner Cassius Casas.