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2005 SEA Games gold medal winner Pagunsan aiming at Tour card

Rising star Juvic Pagunsan hopes to fire off the year by making the grade at the Asian Tour 2006 Qualifying School Final Stage tomorrow.

The Filipino will be among the 217 golfers that will tee off at the Palm Resort Golf and Country Club in Senai, Johor. They will battle for the 40 tour cards at stake.

The other notable players include former World Amateur No.1 from Australia Michael Sim and South African duo of Martin Maritz and Des Terblanche.

Steven Tan and Iain Steel of Malaysia are part of the local team vying for a spot for next season. Steel has competed in various professional golf tournaments in United States over the past five years while Steven was placed third in the Order of Merit in Malaysia.

Pagunsan, 27, proved his worth as an amateur winning numerous titles the past two years. His most recent win was the individual gold medal at the 2005 Manila Sea Games and was also crowned the 2005 Philippines Amateur champion.

The Malaysian Amateur Open champion claimed the 2004 Thailand Amateur Championship title and was the first runner-up in the 2004 Singapore Amateur Open.

After blasting his way past the field at the Amateur level, Pagunsan has set himself new targets for 2006.

“I know it will be a totally different ball game when I compete against some of the pros here. This is a crucial stage as I hope to make the top 40,” said Pagunsan, who picked up the game at the age of 13.

“My game has been great last year so I hope to carry on my form. I made the cut in all three Asian Tour tournaments I was involved in previous years which has added to my confidence to strive for success here,” he said.

From the 217 players that will be making their way to the Allamanda Course and Cempaka Course tomorrow, only the top 100 and ties from Round two will make it to the third round on Friday.

Former Tour winners David Gleeson of Australia, Sweden’s Stephen Lindskog and Nico Van Rensburg of South Africa will also be hoping to join the front-runners of Asia on the fairways this season.

January 10, 2006