Juvic wrests Taiwan Masters lead with 70

Juvic Pagunsan pounced on Malaysian Gavin Green’s late double-bogey mishap then flashed deft touch from around the green to card a 70 and seize a one-stroke lead in the third round of the Taiwan Masters at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club in Chinese Taipei yesterday.

Pagunsan bucked a bogey on No. 10 and matched Green’s birdie feats on Nos. 13 and 15 while cashing in on his rival’s double-bogey on No. 14 to wrest control then stayed on top with three straight scrambling pars to close out his 35-35 card in the $800,000 Asian Tour tournament.

With a 207 aggregate, the 39-year-old smooth-swinging Pagunsan, who became the first Filipino to win the Asian Tour Order of Merit crown without winning a leg in 2011, moved 18 holes away from scoring a followup to his first AT victory in the Pertamina Indonesia Invitational in 2007.

Green, who shared the halfway lead with Pagunsan, also saved two pars in the last three holes but could only turn in a 71. He dropped to second at 208 but gained another crack at Pagunsan and the crown in today’s final round in the featured flight.

South African Keith Horne matched par 72 to move to third at 210, three strokes off Pagunsan.

Another Filipino bet, Tony Lascuña, hobbled with a 73 and slid to joint eighth.

Over in Japan, Angelo Que stayed in title contention as he fired a four-under 68 to close in on joint leaders Satoshi Kodaira and Hyung-Sung Kim in the third round of the TOP Cup Tokai Classic at the Miyoshi Country Club West Course in Aichi.

Que made his charge at the back, gunning down four birdies, including the last two holes to pool a 10-under 206, just one stroke behind Kodaira and Kim.