Pagunsan hopeful of emerging stronger in Japan again

Juvic Pagunsan of the Philippines has set his sights on a top-10 finish at the ASO Iizuka Challenged Golf Tournament tomorrow to get himself back in the right direction following a difficult start to the season.

Pagunsan showed signs of resurgence by carding his lowest round of the week - a five-under-par 67 – to share the 10th spot on 11-under-par 205 – after the penultimate stage at the ASO Iizuka Golf Club on Saturday.

Starting the day in tied-27th, the 44-year-old made his move early by holing out for an eagle on the par-five first before collecting two more birdies on the third and sixth holes. 

He was pegged back by a bogey dropped on the eighth hole but would go on to gain two back from the inward nine.

Having struggled to impress since returning to Japan in April, Pagunsan was delighted to have rediscovered his form and looks forward to registering his best result yet after seven appearances.

"I've been playing badly in the last couple of weeks, so I'm really happy to be playing well this week. Hopefully, I can finish as well as I can tomorrow," said Pagunsan, who only made his first cut of the year, finishing 64th at the Japan Golf Tour Championship last week.

"I feel like my swing is getting better. That probably contributed to the three solid rounds thus far.

"I will try my best to keep this good momentum going. In golf, anything can happen."

Pagunsan has not been able to build on the breakthrough JGTO victory at the Mizuno Open last year.

The triumph was his first since he began his JGTO career in 2012.

Pagunsan was lost for words about his struggle, but he was also cool about it.

“After that win, I missed the cut (seven out of eight starts) in many tournaments after that before ending the season with a top-10 finish (tying for eighth at the season-ending Golf Nippon Series JT Cup)," he said.

"And now that I'm back in Japan, I've started missing cut again. But that's natural. When you played bad, you missed the cut.

"It's definitely a little bit frustrating, but as a professional, you just have to get yourself back up and keep trying again. That's what I'm doing this week too, and I know the result will eventually come."