Juvic Pagunsan's pro golf journey

Juvic Pagunsan is going places. Yes he is, literally.

Juvic, the Asian PGA Tour Rookie of the Year for 2006 will vie in the $5.1 million Sony Open at the Waialee Golf Club in Hawaii.

How he earned the invitation to this US PGA Tour event is an even bigger story for the former caddy from Negros, who rose to become the country's top amateur and I sincerely hope is now on his way to even bigger achievements as a professional.

Juvic used to be a regular visitor to Cebu competing in the major tournaments here on invitation of his friends.

There was one time when we duffers complained about how our handicaps were deducted 25 percent during a certain tournament and later one I learned that Juvic was even in a tougher position, his handicap was not to be deducted from his score, but added.

That's right, I think his handicap based on the course rating of Alta Vista Golf and Country Club was plus 3. That's the problem when you're so good.

Although I never had the chance to play a full round with him, I did get to see him up close for nine holes a few years ago when our flightmates gave up after the front nine due to the heavy rain and we were told to join Juvic's flight for the homestretch.

Golf looked very easy for him as he gracefully made the ball fly at every tee shot while we strained to get our balls to within 50 yards of his drive (or was it 80 yards?).

Last year, Juvic bagged the Rookie of the Year honors in the Asian PGA Tour, which gave him a slot to compete in the US PGA Tour event in Hawaii.

He'll get a chance to play alongside the likes of Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, and Hawaii's pride Michelle Wie, who is also playing on a sponsor's invitation.

Juvic said that he spent much of the holidays practicing golf and I surely hope that there will really be bigger things for him this year.

I also wish the same for our other Filipino pros like Frankie Miñoza, Gerald Rosales, Angelo Que, and Cassius Casas.

These guys don't really have much to look forward to in our own soil, but the honors they reap around Asia surely gives the other professional golfers and top amateurs hope that someday they too could make it that far or even beyond.

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Many have wondered how come many of our top amateur golfers never make it so far in the professional ranks.

To those who were already aware of what was happening during the 1980s and the early 1990s, you probably knew of names like Ramon Brobio and Carito Villaroman. They were not only top age group players in the Philippines, but of the world.

Ernie Els of South Africa and lefty Phil Mickelson of the United States were among those from the same junior golf era of Brobio and Villaroman, but the two are doing well in the US PGA Tour while we don't hear much of the two Filipinos nowadays.

The main reason of course in the lack of a program after junior golf and the lack of a professional tour that our top amateurs can move on to.

There were also many efforts in the past to help the local pros earn money from tournaments, but then recently all has been quiet except for a tournament here and there aside from the Philippine Open.

The state of professional golf in the country is indeed pitiful and I hope that someday it will wake up from its slumber. I hope that it's just asleep and not dead.