Juvic in for tough PGA start

It will be one tough PGA Tour debut for Filipino shotmaker Juvic Pagunsan, who drew a late afternoon flight in the first round of the $5.1 million Sony Open firing off Thursday (Friday in Manila) at the Waialae Country Club in Hawaii.

Pagunsan, 28, will tee off at 12:50 p.m. on No. 10 when playing condition is expected to get tougher and when some of the big guns in a stellar field will have finished their respective rounds at the par-70, 7,060-yard layout nestled between the Koolau mountain and the Pacific Ocean.

He will have fellow Asian Tour campaigners Jarrod Lyle of Australia and South Korea’s Charlie Wi, the 2005 Maybank Malaysian Open winner as playing partners.

This marks the first time that Pagunsan would be playing on the world’s premier golf circuit, thanks to his remarkable debut in last year’s Asian Tour where he emerged the top rookie to gain an invite to this four-day championship featuring many of the world’s best players.

Pagunsan, who had four top 10 finishes on the Asian Tour, including a runner-up finish in the Hong Kong Open, said he had prepared hard for this event even as he vowed to dish out two solid rounds in a bid to make it to the weekend play of the tournament, which offers $918,000 to the winner.

But it will be tough for the lean Pagunsan, whose built is far from PGA Tour standards but whose power, determination and short game, not to mention a fluid golf swing, could steer him past some of the noted players in the fold.

World No. 2 Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh, the former world No. 1 who slipped to No. 5 last season but who won the kickoff leg of the PGA Tour in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii last week, headline the banner field.

which also includes defending champion David Toms, US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy of Australia, veteran Davis Love III, and Michelle Wie.

Pagunsan, who won $288,794 to finish seventh on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, arrived in Hawaii Tuesday morning and immediately took a practice round with the club pro, a Filipino. The two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medallist is also set to play again Wednesday and try to familiarize himself with the tough layout.