The Asian Tour will welcome the Philippine Open back onto its schedule next year in the best way possible by positioning the historic event as the season-opening tournament.
The Philippine Open, the region’s oldest national Open and one of the longest running events in professional golf, will be played at Manila Southwoods Golf & Country Club from January 23-26.
It will be the first time the event will have been played in six years, while it was last played on the Asian Tour in 2015 – when the country’s number one golfer Miguel Tabuena claimed the title.
Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner & CEO, Asian Tour, said: “The return of the Philippine Open is an outstanding development for golf in the region and we thank our friends at the National Golf Association of the Philippines and Manila Southwoods Golf & Country Club for clearing the way for its return.
“The Asian Tour has a long-standing relationship with the tournament and the golf community in the Philippines as a whole, and we have been looking forward to the day when we could welcome it back.
“It is a tournament that brings with it history, excitement and an extremely important responsibility as the flagship event for one of region’s golfing strongholds.
“We will announce details of our full schedule in due course, but we could not ask for a more appropriate event to start the season than the National Open of the Philippines.”
The Jack Nicklaus-designed Masters course will host the tournament, which has been played at Manila Southwoods on four occasions before: in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1999.
Said Miguel Tabuena: “As a professional golfer, your national open is a tournament that always holds a little more weight than the others. It just feels different to win on home soil, and I’m so blessed to have been able to win our Philippine Open twice. We travel all over, playing in different stops on the Asian Tour but it’s been a hope of mine to, at some point, enjoy a home stop again. So, this is awesome news! Thank you to everyone that helped make this happen. There’s a lot of Philippine golf to be seen!”
The Asian Tour’s key partners in staging the event – the National Golf Association of the Philippines and Manila Southwoods Golf & Country Club – welcomed the return of the Philippine Open and pledged to do the best they can to make it a resounding success.
“The Philippine Open is back and we’re really happy and excited to have it again,” said Al Panlilio, Chairman of the National Golf Association of the Philippines. “We want to host it the best way we can by attracting the best players and increasing the prize money.”
For his part, Manila Southwoods Golf & Country Club chairman Robert John Sobrepeña said they are extremely pleased that the Philippine Open will tee-off the Asian Tour’s 2025 season.
He said: “We’re very happy that we’re hosting it again. We will be the first leg of the Asian Tour and we will work closely with the Asian Tour on every aspect that will make the return of the Philippine Open a big success.”
The Philippine Open was first played in 1913 and was won a record 12 times by Filipino Larry Montes – the first in 1929 and the last in 1954.
A wealth of famous names from the Asian Tour have raised the trophy, they include Tabuena (2015 and 2018) Steve Lewton (2017), Mardan Mamat (2012), Berry Henson (2011), Angelo Que (2008), Frankie Minoza (1998 and 2007), Felix Casas (2001), Gerald Rosales (2000) and Anthony Kang (1999).
