Juvic ties for 2nd in Taiwan

Filipino Juvic Pagunsan faltered with a 2-over 74 and settled for joint second in the $800,000 Mercuries Taiwan Masters won by Malaysian Gavin Green Sunday at Taiwan Golf and Country Club in Taipei.

Pagunsan, the third-round leader, wound up with a 281 aggregate, two shots off Green, who shot 71 for a 9-under 279 total that rewarded him with the breakthrough victory in the Asian Golf Tour.

Tied with Pagunsan after 72 holes were South African Keith Horne (71) Zimbabwe’s Vincent Scott (70) and Brazil’s Adilson Da Silva, who fired 69.

Unlike in his earlier rounds of 68, 69, 70, the 39-year-old Pagunsan’s game never got going when it mattered as had a lone birdie on No. 6 against bogeys on holes 2, 3 and 14.

Another Filipino, Tony Lascuña, also limped home with 75 and tumbled to a share of 16th to 18th places with a 1-over 289 total. —ROY LUARCA