Pagunsan moves up to 17th in Asian Tour

MANILA, Philippines - Juvic Pagunsan climbed to No. 17 in the Order of Merit standing on the Asian Tour, moving past erstwhile top Filipino campaigner Angelo Que after an impressive campaign in the $5 million Singapore Open last week.

Pagunsan finished tied for 14th with world No. 2 Phil Mickelson and South African ace Ernie Els with a 280 aggregate, earning $67,785.

That hiked his earnings to $173,065 in 14 tournaments with three legs left in the season.

Pagunsan, a former top rookie on the region’s premier circuit, had three top 10 finishes in the Asian Tour International (joint third), the Brunei Open (joint fifth) and Iskandar Johor Open (joint seventh) but his winnings in his most recent event more than tripled his earnings in each one of them.

Que, who reached as high as No. 10 with a joint seventh place finish in the Omega European Masters where he won $69,620, slipped to No. 21 with $152,097 earnings, his campaign hounded by three missed-cut stints in the last four tournaments.

Pagunsan, who scored his breakthrough win on the Asian Tour in the Pertamina Indonesia President Invitational in 2007, also had three straight missed cuts in the Macau Open, Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open and the Taiwan Masters. But the smooth-swinging Filipino shotmaker bounced back with a strong seventh place effort in Johor Open before the Singapore Open.

He actually had a so-so 74 in the first round of the tour’s blue-ribbon event but fought back with 69 to emerge the lone survivor among seven Filipino starters before turning in a 69 and a 68 for that joint 14th place effort.