Tokyo—Juvic Pagunsan stumbled with a two-over 73 after two rounds of men’s individual golf action in the Summer Olympic Games on Friday at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
After a solid start on opening day, Pagunsan was hounded by bogeys on holes No. 5 and 8, plus two more at the back nine to slip into a tie for 25th spot with Romain Langasque of France, Kim Si Woo of Korea, Colin Morikawa and Patrick Reed of the USA, Tommy Fleetwood of Great Britain, Rikuya Hoshino of Japan, Joachim Hansen of Denmark and Joaquin Niemann of Chile.
That seven-shot turnaround dropped the Filipino to a three-under-par overall as he fell 20 places down the standings.
Pagunsan, the 43-year-old Japan Tour regular, is eight shots behind American leader Xander Schauffele, who crawled out of 12th place and ended the second round on top after shooting a 63 and assembling an 11-under total.
He was a stroke better than Mexico’s Carlo Ortiz, who shot a 67.
First-round leader Sepp Straka of Austria fired an even 71 and slipped to a tie for third at eight-under overall.
Inclement weather halted the proceedings for nearly two hours and then another break ended the round for good, leaving a few golfers needing to finish their rounds.
Pagunsan’s female teammates Women’s US Open champion Yuka Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan begin women’s play on Aug. 4.
Meanwhile, Cris Nievarez completed his Olympic debut by finishing at 23rd place in the men’s single sculls of rowing at the Sea Forest Waterway.
Nievarez submitted a time of seven minutes and 21.28 seconds to land fifth in the event’s Final D of the classification round. Those numbers were faster than the 7:22.97 he registered in the preliminary round that qualified him for the quarterfinals last July 23.
