Crack foreign field also out to foil Juvic’s defense

BACOLOD–A talented 37-strong foreign contingent will see action starting Wednesday, hoping to foil Juvic Pagunsan from winning back-to-back titles and, in the process, defending his ICTSI Negros Occidental Classic title here.

Pagunsan ruled last week’s stop at nearby Binitin in Murcia town, and will come to the Negros Occidental Golf and Country Club as the overwhelming favorite to notch a second straight victory and win the event for the second consecutive year.

Spain’s Marcos Pastor, who blew up in the final round last week, is itching for atonement and will be leading the big foreign field.

Kammalas Namuangruk and Tawan Phongphun of Thailand, two of the top foreign qualifiers in the recent Philippine Golf Tour Q-School, finally get the chance to slug it out with the PGT campaigners after missing the first two legs of the four-stage Visayan swing.

Namuangruk checked in third in the much-tougher PGT Asia leg in Luisita last April.

Aussie Fidel Concepcion, who finished in the top five last week, also looms as a foreign bet to watch.

Short by international standards, Marapara, as what the NOGCC was known before, will provide a different test since it basically keeps driver in the bag on most long holes.