PSC steps in, Phlilippines Open lives on with $1 million prize

MANILA, Philippines — Asia’s oldest national golf championship will go on – and with a $1 million prize fund to match its prestige.

The Philippine Sports Commission has stepped in to ensure the 108th Philippine Open tees off as scheduled, putting up the purse for the 72-hole championship set Nov. 12-15 at the Masters course of Manila Southwoods in Carmona, Cavite.

“It is a tradition that the PSC certainly wants to continue with,” PSC chairman Patrick Gregorio said. “We wouldn’t want such a big event be put on the shelf. It’s the Philippine Open, it’s the pride of the country.”

The intervention came after BingoPlus, the original title sponsor, withdrew just over a month ago, threatening to cancel the event. The Asian Tour and the National Golf Association of the Philippines worked behind the scenes to keep it alive, with the PSC guaranteeing its staging as a full Asian Tour leg.

Some of the biggest names on the Asian Tour and the brightest Filipino talents lead the chase for the historic trophy at a Manila Southwoods layout that is being conditioned to perfect championship shape.

It will be one of the narrowest, toughest versions of the Jack Nicklaus-designed Masters in recent memory, with management allowing the rough to grow and narrowing fairways to punish errant drives.

First played in 1913, the Philippine Open has been held yearly except for seven editions – in 2003 due to a name dispute, in 2013 and 2016 due to super typhoons, and from 2020 to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frenchman Julien Sale won its revival last year, also at the Masters, and is expected to banner the foreign challenge.

Leading the Filipino charge will be Miguel Tabuena, who won the 100th staging at Luisita and remains the last local to win the Open.

Also in the early roster are fellow Asian Games veterans Justin delos Santos and Carl Corpus, while two-time winner Angelo Que, at 47, cannot be discounted as he rides one of the finest two-year stretches of his career.