Juvic Pagunsan runaway Order of Merit winner

MANILA, Philippines—Despite missing the last six legs, Juvic Pagunsan still won the Order of Merit crown in the recently concluded 2011 ICTSI Tour with earnings of close to P1.5 million.

The super-talented shotmaker from Murcia town in Negros Occidental won four of the first nine legs before being canned by the Tour, but his winnings of P1,474,604 proved too much for the field to overcome.

Pagunsan won the Royal Northwoods, the Eastridge and the P2.5 million Orchard stops aside from ruling the Apo Golf leg in Davao for the third straight year, a feat no one in the Tour has ever done.

The OOM victory was some sort of vindication for Pagunsan, who fell short last year when he lost in the Canlubang stop to Jay Bayron, who went on to clinch the title.

After his suspension from the ICTSI Tour, Pagunsan concentrated his focus on the Asian Tour and almost won the Barclay’s Singapore Open, losing in the second playoff hole to Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano to settle for more than P28 million.

Elmer Salvador, the 2009 OOM winner, placed second in this year’s OOM, finishing just over P400,000 behind Pagunsan, who bagged P50,000 for his feat.

Salvador missed two of the last three legs because of commitments abroad and wound up in a 13th place tie in the season-ending Wack Wack leg.

Jonel Ababa, the rookie who won at Sta. Barbara in Iloilo, in Riviera and in Calatagan, was named Player of the Year in the circuit sponsored by International Container Terminal Services, Inc.

Bayron settled for No. 4 with P987,394 while Tony Lascuña, who had another winless campaign, placed fifth with P932,819.