Pagunsan, who stormed to the lead in the Merit race with a second place finish at the rich Barclays Singapore Open two weeks ago where he banked more than $600,000, is aiming to become the first Filipino to secure the Order of Merit title.
Winning the HK Open will be his target after narrowly capturing the Singapore Open where he lost in a sudden-death playoff to Spain’sGonzalo Fernandez-Castano.
But that appears to be a wish more than a realizable objective as he will be up against a stellar field that includes world No. 2 Rory McIlroy, defending champion Ian Poulter, Padraig Harrington, Y.E Yeng and Justin Rose among those expected to contend.
The main objective for the sometimes eccentric Filipino golfer is to keep a commanding lead in the Order of Merit race where he is being chased by India’s S.P. Chowarasia who is also in the HK field.
The 33-year-old Chowrasia trails Pagunsan by about $288,000 with two events remaining this season and the Indian is hopeful that a new driver in the bag will steer him back on track in his dream to become Asia’s number one.
Chowrasia, however, must win the HK Open to have a chance to overtake Pagunsan who leads the Merit race with over $733,000. Pagunsan will teeoff at around 12 noon HK time with Harrington and Thai star Thaworn Wiratchant for company.
Besides Pagunsan, two other Filipinos are in the field. These are Asian Tour veterans Mars Pucay and Antonio Lascuna.
By DING MARCELO
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