Golf stars descend on Philippine soil for International Series

MANILA, Philippines — The big guns are here, all raring to ignite the fairways and greens in the largest golf event to hit the country in three decades — the International Series Philippines presented by BingoPlus.

From the next five days, the sport’s brightest parbusters led by two-time major winner Dustin Johnson and fellow major champions Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen will be in town to strut their stuff at the Sta. Elena Golf Club in Laguna in a battle royale for top honors.

The Philippines’ aces, headlined by three-time Asian Tour winners Miguel Tabuena and Angelo Que and Asian Tour mainstays Justin Quiban and Sean Ramos, are poised to steal the thunder as they join the biggest gathering of golf greats on local soil since the Johnny Walker Classic back in 1995.

Tabuena, a Sta. Elena boy, vowed to do everything in his power to protect “home turf”.

“It’s a course where I do a lot of my practice in. I definitely think I can perform well and give it the best shot for the championship,” the 2016 Olympics campaigner said Tuesday during his ceremonial signing as brand ambassador of ArenaPlus with Rafael Jasper Vicencio, representative of Total Gamezone Xtreme Inc.

“But you know, it’s golf, anything can happen; there’s a lot of things that can go either way — weather, certain conditions but I’ll do my best.”

The participants and organizers took part in a series of events Tuesday to drum up the $2-million tournament set October 23-26. Aside from world-class golf action, the ISP also offers a lively Fan Village for the spectators featuring interactive games, kids activities and live DJ sets, among others.

“Over the course of the next few days, I hope what we will be able to accomplish is what the International Series has set out to do — to bring world-class golf, world-class entertainment and activations to countries all around the world that have a history and bring excitement to the game,” Rahul Singh, Head of The International Series said in the welcome presscon.

“I'm very proud to say that we are the pioneers in bringing this prestigious event to our country,” said Vicencio. “We wanted this to be the gateway for aspiring golfers to pursue their dream and to represent our country in this kind of league. A swing for the Filipino sports dream is about to happen."