The entry list includes golfers of all handicaps, from single-digit handicappers to beginners, with two things in common – they are leaders of industries and they are frequent flyers of PAL.
The tournament is actually the 10th edition of what was once the Mabuhay Club invitational. It was renamed following the relaunch of the airline’s frequent flyer program, PAL smiles into the Mabuhay Miles Elite and the Mabuhay Club into the Premier Elite.
But it will be the same tournament – both fun and competitive – for the regulars who have made the 18-hole Systems 36 tournament an annual gathering of the golfing elite from the business world.
Defending champion Bones Floro will be playing on home grounds – he is the golf director of Wack Wack – and is therefore favored to win the low gross title, but the low net champion could also come from the middle and high handicappers in the field.
The field includes out-of-town entries and even participants from six international destination of PAL. They include eight players from Honolulu, seven from Los Angeles, six from San Francisco, three from Tokyo, and one each from Sydney and Hong Kong.
Two players from Los Angeles – 2-handicapper Tom Culligan and 11-handicapper Douglas Wickline – have been previous winners and perennial contenders and are expected to give Floro a run for his money.
The field includes notables like Pilipinas Shell chairman Oscar Reyes, Basic Consolidated chairman and president Oscar de Venecia, actor Richard Gomez, businessmen Benigno Gopez and Alfredo Mendoza, Wellex Group chairman and president William Gatchalian, Philippine National Bank president Francisco Dizon, DHL president Jose Feliciano and chairman Rodolfo Feliciano, and Philippine Daily Inquirer chairman Marixi Prieto.
Sponsored by Airbus Industrie and Boeing, the tournament is also supported by corporate sponsors DHL Worldwide, Express Philippines Corp., Singapore Petroleum Company, and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. The minor sponsors are Boysen Paint, the DOT/Philippine Convention and Visitors Corp., Nestle Philippines, Pagcor/Casino Filipino and Subic Bay Distribution Inc.
Century Park and the Peninsula Manila are the official hotels and the official insurer is Malayan Insurance.
Luxury cars donated by Toyota Motors and Audi/Auto Prominence Corp. and a round-trip first class ticket to Los Angeles are the hole-in-one prizes.
Prizes, trophies and airline tickets are also staked in the tournament and the rtaffle.
The shotgun tee-off on both the West and East courses is 7:30 a.m. with registration starting at 6 a.m.
The Men’s A and B divisions will play at the tough East course, the traditional venue of the Philippine Open, while the C and D and the Ladies divisions will play at the West course.
Donors for the tournament are Annset Holidays, Asia Brewery Inc., Boracay Regency Beach resort, Club Panoly Resorts, Edsa Shangri-La Hotel, El Nido Resorts, Fridays Boracay, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Lorenzo Resorts Boracay, Manila Galleria Suites, Maribago Bluewater Beach Resort, Matsushita Avionics Systems Corp., Pryce Plaza Cagayan de Oro, Shangri-La Mactan Island Resort, Tanduay Distillers, Heritage Hotel, Traders Hotel, and Waterfront Hotels and Casinos.