Juvic

Pagunsan

The 48-seed from the Phillipines ended calendar-year 2020 No. 630 in the Official World Golf Ranking but checked in this week No. 226. He got a huge bump after his third worldwide win four starts ago at the Mizuno Open in Okayama, Japan, where he played without a caddie (COVID restrictions) with only 11 clubs in the bag to make it lighter to carry. On nine (of 14) fairways and 15 greens in regulation, the 43-year-old outflanked one bogey-4 at hole 4, with six circles at 1, 6, 8, 11, 13 and 16. He was positive in all strokes gained categories, led by a 1.110 on approach and 1.421 on-the-green. Pagunsan’s most recent of five starts on the PGA TOUR was a T58 at the 2017-18 CIMB Classic on 1-under 287 (73-72-70-72).

The 33-year-old Filipino finished atop the Order of Merit on the Asian Tour to earn the tee times. It’s an impressive accomplishment given that he didn’t win a tournament all year. In fact, he posted just four top 10s but a runner-up finish at the Singapore Open accounted for 84.5 percent of his overall earnings. After missing the cut at this week’s Thailand Golf Championship, he’ll finish the year ranked 156th in the world. In his only PGA TOUR start, he missed the cut at the Sony Open in 2007.

The 39-year-old Filipino cracked the field through the Asian Tour order of merit (10th). His past experience on the PGA TOUR includes missed cuts at the 2007 Sony Open and 2014 Open Championship in addition to a T35 at the 2012 WGC-Cadillac Championship and T72 at the 2012 Open Championship. More recently, he impressed with a runner-up finish at the Taiwan Masters before missing the cut last week. Despite playing on the lower circuits, Pagunsan has just two career victories in 248 starts, making him a true long shot to get into contention this week.

The season’s third major reserves four berths for this tournament; no tiebreakers were necessary. South Korea’s Dong-kyu Jang closed with a 3-under-par 69 to post 15-under 273 for his first victory on a major circuit. He was three clear of Juvic Pagunsan of the Philippines, who carded a 70 on Sunday. The runner-up tied for 72nd in his only previous appearance in the major in 2012. Japan’s Tomohiro Kondo (67) shared third place with Hyung-tae Kim (66) of South Korea at 11-under 277. Kondo is 0-for-2 in The Open (2007, 2009) while Kim falls in the same category as Jang in that neither has ever competed in a PGA TOUR event. “You have got to win The Open to be classed as a great golfer and I hope I can be remembered,” said today’s champ. “I have never played a course like Royal Liverpool but even if I play bad I’m playing in The Open Championship which is a dream come true. I watched it when I was young and it was my goal to play in The Open.”

The man from the Philippines, who won the 2011 Asian Order of Merit, birdied the opening hole and circled two more at 10 and 12 to reach 4-under 140 -- seven off the pace. It’s easy to see what’s keeping him in contention so far. Pagunsan hit just nine greens in round one and only 10 today. However, he’s a combined 16-for-17 in scrambling over the first two rounds so his short game is razor sharp. He’s missed the cut on his last two starts at Kuala Lumpur G&CC and was T66 in November’s Casio World Open in Japan the last time he teed it up.