Juvic Pagunsan marked man in Negros Occidental Classic

MANILA, Philippines — Coming off an emphatic win and heading to a course he calls home, Juvic Pagunsan is installed as the hot favorite when the ICTSI Negros Occidental Classic unfolds on Wednesday at the Negros Occidental Golf and Country Club in Bacolod.

But make no mistake about it. The hometown hero is heading to the P3 million event as prepared as anyone else and with a mindset to dish out his best against the expected charge of the rest of the 105-player international field.

“I always give my 100 percent in all my tournaments,” said Pagunsan, who outwitted Jobim Carlos in a playoff duel to rule this event last year.

The smooth-swing Asia’s former No. 1 dominated the ICTSI Bacolod Golf Challenge in nearby Binitin over the weekend, keeping the leaders in sight in the first two days before taking charge in the third round with 63 on his way to a seven-stroke romp over Rufino Bayron with a closing 64.

But expect the rest to put the pressure on him early in a bid fuel their respective title drives in the P3 million event serving as the third stop of the four-stage Visayan swing of the circuit put up by ICTSI.

But one thing that could go against the rest of the bidders is that Pagunsan will be playing on a course so familiar and so dear to him, the NOGCC.