Philippine Open 2026 Gets $1 Million Boost as 108th Edition Secured

 

Philippine Open 2026 Secured With $1 Million Purse for Historic 108th Edition

The Philippine Open will return to the Asian Tour calendar this November, with the Philippine Sports Commission providing the financial backing needed to preserve one of the country’s most enduring sporting traditions.

The 108th edition is scheduled for November 12 to 15 at the Masters course of Manila Southwoods in Carmona, Cavite. The 72-hole championship will carry a $1 million prize purse, underscoring the significance of an event that dates back to 1913.

The tournament faced cancellation after BingoPlus, its original title sponsor, pulled out a little more than a month before the scheduled competition. The Asian Tour and the National Golf Association of the Philippines subsequently worked to secure the event, while the PSC stepped in to guarantee its staging as an official Asian Tour tournament.

PSC chairman Patrick Gregorio said the agency regarded the Philippine Open as a sporting institution that should not be allowed to disappear from the national calendar.

The championship's return also comes with a deliberately demanding test. Manila Southwoods is preparing its Jack Nicklaus-designed Masters layout for a setup expected to be among the most exacting in recent years. Fairways are being narrowed and the rough allowed to grow, placing a premium on driving accuracy and strategic course management.

The tougher configuration is likely to separate players who can consistently find the fairway from those willing to take greater risks off the tee. Over 72 holes, small mistakes could quickly become costly.

The Philippine Open's history gives the tournament added significance. Since its inaugural staging in 1913, the championship has been held annually with only seven interruptions. Those cancellations came in 2003 because of a naming dispute, in 2013 and 2016 following powerful typhoons, and from 2020 through 2023 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frenchman Julien Sale enters the tournament as the defending champion after winning last year's revival at the same Manila Southwoods course. He is expected to lead the international contingent seeking another title.

The Philippine challenge will be headed by Miguel Tabuena, who captured the 100th edition at Luisita and remains the most recent Filipino to lift the championship trophy.

Asian Games veterans Justin delos Santos and Carl Corpus are also expected to feature prominently in the local field. Veteran Angelo Que will likewise command attention. The 47-year-old, a two-time Philippine Open champion, arrives after putting together one of the strongest periods of his career over the past two seasons.

With the championship rescued from the brink of cancellation, the 108th Philippine Open now carries more than a substantial prize fund. Its return reinforces the place of the tournament as a fixture in Philippine golf and ensures another chapter can be added to a history spanning more than a century.