The Philippine Open Championship—an Asian Tour–sanctioned event presented by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and proudly sponsored by BingoPlus—officially tees off on Wednesday with a thrilling Pro-Am tournament at Wack Wack Golf & Country Club.
Stealing the spotlight early, the team of Asian Tour standout Angelo Que and rising star Mika Arroyo emerged on top in the Pro-Am side event, setting the tone for the US$500,000 championship showdown ahead.
Que, a former Philippine Open champion, will be one of the 25 local professionals seeing action in the event, and to have the first event of the Asian Tour here tells how much golf has developed in the country.
“It’s good that the first Asian Tour event for two years in a row is here in the Philippines and it goes to show that the Philippines is coming back again in the Asian Tour,” said Que.
“We have a lot of up and coming players, it’s a good feeling. It’s nice that we play here in Wack Wack again. Local knowledge helps. It’s not as long as the other courses. Even us old guys will have a chance to compete against them.”
“Every first event is always a stronger field, even if it’s a small event because they want to start the season right away. That’s why being the first event of the season is always good,” he added.
Aside from Que, other Philippine Open winners and local bets seeing action in the event include Clyde Mondilla and Gerald Rosales. Antonio Lascuna, a five-time Philippine Golf Tour OOM winner, will also play as they will be joined by 16 invited local players, and six national golfers from the amateur ranks.
American John Catlin, one of four Order of Merit awardee in the field, is one of the early favorite for the coveted plum.
Sihwan Kim, who also represents the US, won the OOM and the Player of the Year title in 2022, while Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand bagged the same hardware during the 2019 Asian Tour season.
The event will also feature former Asian Tour winners Suteepat Prateeptienchai, Poosit Supupramai, Ekpharit Wu, Rattanonn Wannasrichan and Sadom Kaewkanjana of Thailand, Jbe Kruger of South Africa, Hongtaek Kim of Korea and Lee Chieh Po of Chinese Taipei, part of the 144 golfers in the field.
Supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the event not only positions the country as a regional golfing powerhouse. It proves that the Philippines is one of the major sports and tourist destinations.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. gave his approval to this tournament under the National Sports Tourism Inter-Agency Committee headed by PSC chairman Patrick Gregorio.
“I’ve realized early on, sports tourism excites the Filipinos. It’s good news and it’s aspirational. PSC’s role is to enourage our sports stakeholders to play a pro active role in hosting international competitions to showcase the sport and to showcase our country,” said Gregorio.
“The biggest tourism events in the world as sports events. The PSC is an enabler. We’re happy when Pinoys clap. When Pinoys cheer. When Pinoys dream. That is the beauty of sports… kahit saglit napapasaya natin ang mga kabataan pati na kanilang mga magulang,” added Gregorio.
