Highlighting another big year for Negros Occidental golf were Juvic Pagunsan and Mia Piccio. A two-time Southeast Asian Games champion, Pagunsan finished seventh in the Asian Golf Tour Order of Merit, after collecting a total of $291,847 (roughly P14.3 million) in prize money, spiked by a runner-up finish in the UBS HongKong Open. His feat in what is only his maiden year on the Asian Tour has earned him an invitation to the Sony Open, an event in the prestigious PGA Tour set in Hawaii this January.

In February last year, the 27-year-old Pagunsan edged out Frankie Minoza, widely considered as the country's top professional player, in a wire-to-wire finale to win the P1 million top purse in The Country Club Tournament.

Piccio, for her part, topped the Madaline Hooper Memorial Tournament at the California Golf and Country Club, winning by three strokes over American Alex Kim in July, after finishing 13th in her division in the World Junior Golf Championships. Piccio barely missed claiming her second straight crown two weeks later when she launched a courageous comeback only to lose in the playoff in the Toledo Junior Cup.

On the local front, Chepe Dulay of the University of St. La Salle won the high school individual championships of the Samsung Vis-Min Interscholastic Championships in Cebu. Former junior golf standout Justin Limjap also helped De La Salle University win various tournaments in Manila.

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