PH Open to go on as scheduled at Southwoods’ Masters

Julien Sale (left) acknowledges cheers from the gallery before he was presented the championship trophy by Al Panlilio last year. NGAP PHOTO

The National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) on Saturday stressed that the Philippine Open—the oldest national championship in Asia—will push through as scheduled from Nov. 12 to 15 even after the withdrawal of BingoPlus as the main presenter.

The Philippine Sports Commission and the Asian Tour have stepped in as the tournament’s new chief backers, even as NGAP president Al Panlilio assured that the 72-hole championship will be at least a $1-million (around P63 million) event that the Masters of Manila Southwoods will host.

“We are very grateful to Chair Pato (Gregorio of the PSC), Mr. Cho (Minn Thant of the Asian Tour) and of course, to Manila Southwoods, that we will still be able to hold the event as scheduled,” said Panlilio, who came out of a crucial meeting with Asian Tour officials recently and secured the commitment of several other firms as sponsors.

“There are several other entities from different businesses which are very willing to make this happen,” Panlilio said. “We are just ironing out the details of everything before we make the announcement.”

The Masters course, as early as two months ago, is being spruced up to championship shape to challenge the best in the region.

Frenchman Julien Sale is the defending champion, breaking through as a pro last year while at the same time becoming the first debutant to win the PH Open. He fired a final round five-under-par 65 for a 269 total to win by a shot over Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana and Tomoyo Ikemura of Japan.

Miguel Tabuena was in that field and gave a gallant chase to end up the best Filipino finisher, winding up just four shots behind the champion in front of a big crowd that followed him the entire week.