Pagunsan Summit champ after playoff

LIPA City—Juvic Pagunsan recovered from a late meltdown in regulation with a gutsy stand in sudden death on Saturday, pouncing on Tony Lascuña’s errant drive in the second playoff hole and holing out with a birdie to clinch the ICTSI Summit Point World 18 Challenge crown here.

After blowing a two-shot lead with three holes to play, Pagunsan knocked down the birdie that mattered on their third trip to No. 9 to frustrate Lascuña and win for the sixth time this year.

Pagunsan, who swept the Visayas leg of the Philippine Golf Tour a couple of months back, closed out with a one-under-par 71 as Lascuña caught him at 270 after firing a 69.

Lascuña failed to extend the playoff after missing a 30-foot putt for birdie.

Clyde Mondilla, the reigning Philippine Open champion, fired a 67 to finish tied for third with Australian Jack Lane-Weston, who fired a 66, just a stroke out of the playoff.

On a break from Japan PGA Tour, his base the past decade or so, Pagunsan pocketed another $17,500. He has gone 6-for-9 this year on local soil, counting wins in Bacolod, Negros, Iloilo and Riviera.

Lascuña settled for $11,500.