Pagunsan-Chan opens two-shot lead

LAUREL, Batangas—The veteran Rey Pagunsan and reigning national junior champion Aidric Chan fired a two-under-par 70 on Thursday for a two-stroke lead over three teams after the opening round of the Delimondo National Pro-Am at Splendido Taal Golf Club here.

Pagunsan-Chan gunned down six birdies against two double bogeys in relatively calm conditions in the morning over the ravine-laden layout to be ahead of the Daniella Uy-Lanz Uy, Tonton Asistio-Jude Eustaquio and Art Arbole-Joel Yamyamin pairs.

Two pairs threatened to dominate the afternoon group with strong starts, but the Enrico Gallardo-JR Bagtas and Michael Bibat-Louie Aguinaldo tandems blew a pair of early three-under cards with shaky finishes.

Starting off on No. 1, Gallardo-Bagtas birdied three of the first 10 holes but double bogeyed the par-3 12th, bogeyed the next and dropped strokes on 16th and 17th for a 74.

Bibat and Aguinaldo made quite an impression with three birdies in their first five holes from No. 2. But they bogeyed the seventh and spent the rest of the day trying to salvage par to no avail. They bogeyed Nos. 11, 12 and 16 and dropped two strokes on the par-4 18th and limped with a 75 instead.

Those foldups allowed Pagunsan and Chan to regain the lead with the veteran campaigner anchoring their strong start on superb putting, including a 25-footer on No. 10 and another 10-foot putt on the next.

“I never putted this well and I also drew solid support from my partner,” said Pagunsan in Filipino, praising the 18-year-old Chan, who is coming into the event brimming with confidence following a victory in the National Junior Open at Sherwood recently.