JUVIC Pagunsan recovered from some early shaky play by holding steady in the closing holes for a final-round 70 on Sunday and solo second place in the Mizuno Open in Okayama.
The former Asian Tour No. 1 birdied No. 16 and made par on the last two holes to preserve a two-under card and finish at 12-under 276, three strokes behind winner Jang Dong Kyu of South Korea and securing a place in this year's British Open.
Jang shot a three-under 69 for a 273 aggregate, claiming ¥22,000,000 and nailing a berth in The Open Championship set July 17 to 20.
Pagunsan bagged ¥11,000,000 (around P4.73 million) in one of the biggest events of the Japan Golf Tour and gained another shot at The Open, this time at Royal Liverpool.
The Filipino shotmaker will make his second appearance in one of golf's four major tournaments after placing 72nd at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 2012.
The Mizuno Open is the fourth stage in the Open qualifying series that consists of 14 events. The next event will be The Irish Open from June 19-22.
It was a rather quiet round for Pagunsan, who had shot a tournament-low 65 highlighted by an eagle on Setonaikai Golf Club’s No. 18 in the third round.
The parbuster from Bacolod dropped a shot on No. 3 on Sunday before hitting two birdies to reach the turn at two-under.
He then traded a birdie on No. 11 with a bogey two holes later before playing steady the rest of the way.
Pagunsan had earlier rounds of 68-73.
Jang, 25, who hit five birdies against two bogeys, will make his first appearance in a major.
Also qualifying for The Open were South Korea’s Kim Hyung Tae and Japan's Tomohiro Kondo, who tied for third at 11-under.
Kim had the day’s best 66, while Kondo came up with a closing 67.
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