Catlin, Thai ace banner Philippine Open cast

MANILA, Philippines — The foreign contingent seeing action in the 108th Philippine Open presented by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will not lack the firepower, with former Asian Tour Order of Merit winners John Catlin of the United States and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond leading the field.

The finale of the 2026 season will be held from Nov. 12 at the Masters of Manila Southwoods, and Catlin and Janewattananond still have shots at winning their second OOM with a victory and take Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolpasert out of No. 1.

Catlin will come to the Philippines seeking to win a seventh national open title – and one which is the oldest in Asia.

“You know, anytime you can win a national open, I think it just adds a little bit of extra prestige,” Catlin, who has also won in Australia, England, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Ireland, said after triumphing in Hong Kong last May. “Anytime you can win a national open is just incredible.”

Catlin won twice in his OOM year in 2024, and one of them was a victory in Macau where he shot the Asian Tour’s first sub-60 score, a 59 in the third round to finish with a 23-under tally before beating David Puig in the first hole of sudden death of the International Series event.

The Asian Tour had said that the top 20 in the OOM are committed to play the $1 million (around P64 million) championship, as Tangkamolprasert tries to finish No. 1 for the first time in a long career.

Travis Smyth, of Australia is running second with Ian Syman of South Africa shooting to end the season with the second win of his career after he had broken through in Taiwan last May.

Taichi Kho of Hong Kong is running fifth behind Catlin, and the 2023 Rookie of the Year is also looking for his second win of the season after ruling the defunct IS stop in Morocco.

Miguel Tabuena is the highest-ranked Filipino in the Open field this month, sitting at No. 447 in the world.

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