Pagunsan-Chan bags National Pro-Am title
Credit to Author: Tempo Online| Date: Sat, 11 May 2019 16:35:17 +0000
LAUREL, Batangas – Rey Pagunsan and Aidric Chan used a solid frontside game to regain control then ripped the field with an equally superb backside stint to crown themselves the new Delimondo Pro-Am champions with a whopping six-stroke victory over Spain’s Marcos Pastor and Nicole Abelar with a closing 69 at Taal Splendido Golf Club here yesterday.
Not even a bogey in the rain at the finish could stop Pagunsan and Chan from nailing the crown they had virtually bagged with a 34 start as the duo stormed to leads to as many as seven after Chan rolled in their fourth birdie on No. 16 as their rivals faded one after the other in overcast skies.
Rey Pagunsan (right) and Aidric Chan hold their trophies after routing the Delimondo Pro-Am field by six.
“I couldn’t have picked a better partner. Aidric’s so good,” said Pagunsan of his teammate, a fellow Southwoods bet and the reigning national junior champion, who set up Pagunsan for two birdies at the front that they used as a springboard to overpower the field with a 54-hole total of four-under 212.
The first on No. 1 from 10 feet and the second from 45 feet on the par-3 No. 8.
“Tsamba yun (No. 8) but I really didn’t expect we could win it until we pulled away at the back,” said Pagunsan, ecstatic after earning a juicy P500,000 purse he said he would use for his campaign on the Philippine Golf Tour starting in Bacolod next month.
It was actually Pagunsan’s second victory in team play after his partnership with Ryan Monsalve at Veterans last year but the 51-year-old former national team mainstay remained winless in individual competition that stretches back to over a decade ago.