Overview: Philippine Golf Championship presented by Philippine Sports Commission

For the second season in succession the Asian Tour commences its year in the Philippines – this time at this week’s Philippine Golf Championship presented by Philippine Sports Commission.

It is a brand new event, in one of the Asian Tour’s most popular nation’s – popularly known as the ‘Pearl of the Orient’. Its National Open raised the curtain on last year’s season.

The Philippine Sports Commission is the driving force behind all sports in the archipelago and one of their key pillars is sports tourism – through international events like this week’s tournament.

The tournament is organised under the auspices of the National Sports Tourism-Inter Agency Committee (NST-IAC) along with the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP). The Asian Tour is the official regional sanctioning body.

BingoPlus is also an Official Sponsor – building on its expanding golf sponsorship portfolio which saw it become presenting partner at last year’s hugely successful International Series Philippines.

Taichi Kho.

Tournament Information

• Tournament: Philippine Golf Championship presented by Philippine Sports Commission
• Date: 5-8 February, 2026
• Venue: Wack Wack Golf & Country Club, Manila
• Par/Yards: 72 / 7,188 yards
• Purse: US$500,000
• Asian Tour leg: First
• Edition of tournament: First
• Total number of players: 144
• Format: Stroke play tournament over four rounds of 18 holes with a cut after 36 holes to leading 65 pros plus ties.

Field Breakdown

• Order of Merit winners: Sihwan Kim (2022), Jazz Janewattananond (2019), Scott Hend (2016)
• Nationalities: 26
• Top contenders: Jazz Janewattananond (THA), Wang Wei-hsuan (TPE), Rattanon Wannasrichan (THA), Jinichiro Kozuma (JPN), Lee Chieh-po (TPE), Suteepat Prateeptienchai (THA), Taichi Kho (Hong Kong), Sarit Suwannarut (THA)
• Highest ranked player on OWGR: Suteepat Prateeptienchai #267
• No. of amateurs in the field: 9
• No. of Filipino players in the field: 42

Wack Wack Golf & Country Club.

Tournament Notes

• The 2019 Order of Merit winner Jazz Janewattananond from Thailand finished the 2025 season very strong with two consecutive top six results in Saudi Arabia and India, plus posted four top-10s in his last eight events. The seven-time Asian Tour winner collected six top-10s last season with the highlight being a T2 at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open in May. This good form resulted in him finishing eighth on the Order of Merit. He was also in contention to earn a spot on the LIV Golf League in the Promotions event in January until a final round 72 derailed his chances.
• Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei-hsuan had a breakthrough season in 2025 and recorded three top-three finishes in a span of a month in September-October, finishing T2 at the Yeangder TPC, third at Mercuries Taiwan Masters and losing a play-off at the SJM Macao Open to finish a career best ninth on the Order of Merit. He also won three events on his local Taiwan PGA Tour last year and won that Order of Merit.
• Rattanon Wannasrichan from Thailand had his best ever season of the Asian Tour in 2025, placing fourth on the Order of Merit after a win at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters, a T2 at the Yeangder TPC and a T3 in the Moutai Singapore Open. Last year’s win was his third on the Asian Tour after winning the 2024 SJM Macao Open and the 2017 Thailand Open.
• Fellow Thai Suteepat Prateeptienchai is the highest ranked player on the OWGR this week at number 267, after another fine season in 2025 where he won the Mandiri Indonesia Open and had three other top-10s to finish 14^th on the Order of Merit. He is now four-time Asian Tour winner after having previously won the 2023 and 2024 Taiwan Glass Taifong Open as well as the 2024 Yeangder TPC.

Jinichiro Kozuma.

• Japan’s Jinichiro Kozuma was playing in the LIV Golf League the past two seasons as part of the Iron Heads GC, now called Korean GC, and last year had a T2 in Dallas, a T7 in Korea and a T10 in Andalucia as his best results. Not picked up by a team this season, we might see more of him on the Asian Tour – especially in The International Series events. Kozuma is a three-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, the last coming at the 2024 Sansan KBC Augusta Golf Tournament.
• Lee Chieh-po from Chinese Taipei is another player who was competing on LIV last season with a T12 in Hong Kong and a T13 in Chicago as his best results on the circuit. Playing a limited Asian Tour schedule last year, the 2024 winner of the International Series Thailand posted a T11 in the Jakarta International Championship as his best effort.
• Among the local players in the field this week it is Justin De Los Santos, playing on the Japan Golf Tour mainly, who is the highest ranked player on the OWGR, while Justin Quiban was the highest ranked Filipino on the 2025 Asian Tour Order of Merit.
• A total of 30 players out the 35 who earned their cards at Qualifying School in December are competing, including the winner Lin Yuxin from China, and the other talented player who finished second Shaurya Bhattacharya from India. Another graduate, Korean teenager Minchan Kim is also competing. He was a 16-year-old amateur when he made it through the School and also won the All Thailand Golf Tour Qualifying School the following week. Now aged 17, he’s making his debut as a professional this week.
• The top-10 players from last year’s Asian Development Tour Order of Merit – who earned full playing status on this year’s Asian Tour – have also entered, led by the Merit list champion Tawit Polthai.
• The Asian Tour last visited Wack Wack Golf & Country Club in 2014 for the Philippine Open – when Australia’s Marcus Both claimed victory on the East Course. Other players to have won the Philippine Open there since the Asian Tour was formed in 2004 are: Scott Strange (2006), Frankie Minoza (2007), Angelo Que (2008), Berry Henson (2011), and Mardan Mamat (2012). Lin Wen-tang also claimed the Solaire Open in 2013 at the famous venue. The golf club holds a special place in golfing history, having hosted the 1977 World Cup of Golf, where Spain’s Seve Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido successfully defended their title. The golf club’s name is pronounced “Wark Wark” not “Wack Wack”. It is named after the noise the native crows make. Hence the club logo features two black crows.
• Henson if in the field this week after successfully negotiating a return to Q-School last December.

Wack Wack Golf & Country Club.

Pictures by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.