The Asian Development Tour (ADT) announced today that the inaugural DigiPlus Philippine ADT Open has been added to its schedule – ensuring a first visit of the year to one of its most important countries.

The US$100,000 tournament will be played at Luisita Golf and Country Club from 17-20 June and will be the sixth event of the season. The tournament aims to elevate Filipino golfers from local talent to national pride by providing elite playing opportunities in the DigiPlus Philippine ADT Open.

The golf club, located in Tarlac City, in Central Luzon, hosted the ADT’s most recent event in the Philippines: the ADT Players Championship presented by The R&A last year.

“The Asian Development Tour is delighted to welcome a new event on to our calendar, which now boasts 13 tournaments – with furthers additions likely,” said Ken Kudo, General Manager, ADT.

“The Philippines is such a big contributor to Asian golf, with great players and great golf courses, so it was important to make sure we returned there this season. We thank Luisita Golf and Country Club for hosting one of our events for the second successive season and we thank DigiPlus for becoming title sponsor.”

In a big plus for the tournament, the leading two Filipino golfers will earn exemptions into the Philippine Open on The International Series later in the year.

Said Jasper Vicencio, from Digiplus: “DigiPlus is excited to be playing an important role in golf in the Philippines and on the Asian Development Tour this year. DigiPlus remains dedicated to advancing sports development in the Philippines. It was proven last year when Miguel Tabuena championed the International Series Philippines. Hence, DigiPlus supported Miguel completely. Without a doubt, the DigiPlus Philippine ADT Open will make a big impact on both as we look to provide elite-level playing opportunities locally and regionally.”

The tournament will feature 132 players, with 82 from the ADT, 30 National Golf Association of the Philippines players, six from the national team, and fourteen invites.

The visit to the Philippines means the ADT is set to have tournaments in seven countries this season, as it will also journey to Chinese-Taipei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia.

The ADT has enjoyed an action-packed season so far, with four events having been played.

Singapore’s Nicklaus Chiam currently leads the Order of Merit helped by victory in the season-opening PKNS Selangor Masters. He won that event in a sudden-death play-off, which has been the case in the other three events.

Malaysia’s Khavish Varadan was victorious in the Nam A Bank Vietnam Masters, Amarin Kraivixien from Thailand won the Singha-SAT ADT Hua Hin Championship and Indian Pukhraj Singh Gill triumphed in ADT Players Championship presented by The R&A. Varadan is second on the Order of Merit, having also featured in the play-off with Chiam.

Thailand’s Tanapat Pichaikool won the am green IGPL Morocco Rising Stars event at the weekend.

Main picture: Sean Ramos, the leading Filipino golfer on the ADT Order of Merit in 10th place.