Pagunsan-Chan takes 2-stroke lead in solid start

LAUREL, Batangas, Philippines  —  Rey Pagunsan, who could not seem to get going in individual play, got into the groove in team play, drawing the best from reigning national junior champion Aidric Chan to fire a two-under 70 and seize a two-stroke lead over three pairs at the start of the Delimondo National Pro-Am at Splendido Taal Golf Club here yesterday.

The Southwoods pair kicked off their bid on No. 16 in the first of two shotgun starts and overcame a double bogey on the 18th on a wild drive with three pairs of back-to-back birdies against another double bogey to seize early control with the dreaded Splendido wind hardly felt in morning play.

But two teams looked headed to dislodging the Pagunsan-Chan pair with strong starts in the afternoon group but the Michael Bibat-Louie Aguinaldo and Enrico Gallardo-JR Bagtas tandems succumbed when conditions got tougher late in the day.

Bibat and Aguinaldo birdied three of their first five holes from No. 2 to surge ahead but dropped off the leaderboard just as quickly, hobbling with four bogeys and a double bogey in the last 13 holes to tumble to joint 19th at 75.

Starting off on the first hole, Gallardo and Bagtas also hit three birdies in the first 10 holes in an impressive start for the untested duo in the alternate shot format event. But like Bibat and Aguinaldo, they crumbled with a double bogey on the par-3 12th and bogeys on Nos. 13, 16 and 17 and wound up with a 74.

Those meltdowns enabled Pagunsan and Chan to stay on top the way it was after the morning batch, two strokes ahead of the pairs of Tonton Asistio-Judson Eustaquio, Daniella Uy-Lanz Uy and Art Arbole-Joel Yamyamin.

“I never putted this well but also drew solid support from my partner,” said Pagunsan of his 18-year-old teammate.