Tabuena heads ADT field

Miguel Tabuena. AFP

PAIN-FREE and armed with an international-caliber game, Miguel Tabuena banners the local challenge starting Wednesday when the ICTSI Manila Southwoods Championship ADT tees off at the Legends course in Carmona, Cavite.

After being forced to withdraw from the Luisita Championship two weeks ago, Tabuena is expected to have recovered from a painful back and resume his chase for a second title of the season, this time against a crack field littered with seasoned foreigners.

John Michael O’Toole and Josh Salah of the US, promising Gavin Green of Malaysia, Japan’s Shunya Takeyasu and a host of Thais will try to keep the title out of the hands of a Filipino in the first of two stops of the Asian Tour’s farm circuit.

O’Toole, Salah and Green have all won in the circuit this season.

Antonio Lascuña is another local bet worth watching as he seeks a follow-up to his win in Tarlac.

Bets from Finland, India, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, among others, are also entered in the 72-hole event that halved the 144-strong field from the Philippine Golf Tour and the ADT.