Juvic Pagunsan heads to Riviera this week looking to set a norm on the Philippine Golf Tour—win four straight championships— as he banners a stellar international field in the ICTSI Riviera Classic beginning Wednesday, August 7 at Riviera’s Langer course in Silang, Cavite.
Pagunsan swept the last three legs of the four-stage PGT Visayas swing in Bacolod, Negros and Iloilo last June, matching Tony Lascuña’s couple of streak of feats in 2014 and 2016 and making him the marked man in the P2.5 million event serving as the sixth leg of the 10th season of the country’s premier circuit.
But the long break could pave the way for a wide-open battle for the top P450,000 purse in the 72-hole championship sponsored by ICTSI with the cream of the crop, led by reigning Order of Merit champion Jobim Carlos, plus a slew of foreign aces, including Cebu leg titlist and Manila-based Guido Van der Valk of the Netherlands, eager and ready to foil Pagunsan’s drive for a fourth win-in-row.
The region’s former No. 1 is actually seeking to make it back-to-back at Riviera this year following his breakthrough victory on PGT Asia last March where he beat Angelo Que by seven. But extending his PGT run won’t come easy for the smooth-swinging Negrense given the depth of the competing field that is also priming up for a four-leg Mindanao joust next month.
They include Jay Bayron, who like Carlos, has also reigned at Riviera in 2016 where he nipped Clyde Mondilla in sudden death, along with PGT Asia leg winners Jhonnel Ababa, James Ryan Lam, Justin Quiban and Joenard Rates and perennial contenders Michael Bibat, Zanieboy Gialon, Rufino Bayron and Keanu Jahns and former club pro Marvin Dumandan.
Carlos edged Lascuña in the PGT Asia leg at Riviera last year in a victory that sparked the former national amateur champion’s surge that saw him win two more PGT legs on his way to clinching the OOM crown.
But the locals will be up against a host of talented foreign rivals, headed by Korean-American Micah Shin, the former The Country Club Invitational winner who honed his talent and skills in Davao, and Thais Kammalas Namuangruk and Tawan Phongpun.
Also tipped to contend in the event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. are Korean Hwang Myung Chal, Aussie Calum Juniper, Japanese Ryo Nishimura and Keisuke Takahashi, Argentina’s Emilio Parodi and Jesus Rafael Parra of Venezuela.
A select number of pros, meanwhile, will team up with officials and guests of the event’s chief backers, including ICTSI, Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, Champion, Summit Mineral Water, K&G Golf Apparel, BDO, Sharp, KZG, PLDT and M.Y. Shokai Technology, Inc., in the traditional pro-am tournament tomorrow, Tuesday.
