Elmer Salvador, the Philippine Golf Tour’s (PGT) first Order of Merit winner who has been out of competitive play for years, makes a comeback Tuesday as he takes part in the strong cast seeking 2023 PGT cards in Qualifying School at Splendido in Tagaytay.
A total of 86 players will be taking part, counting former Philippine Open and PH Masters champ Robert Pactolerin as the tour awards the top 35 finishers with slots to a heavy schedule for the rest of the season starting with the Bacolod leg next month.
Pactolerin was one of the best players in Asia in the 1990s together with Frankie Minoza and will be trying to get back full membership that he has enjoyed ever since the local tour saw birth.
Former leg winners Ferdie Aunzo and Mark Fernando are also taking part together with Japan’s Toru Nakajima, the first foreigner to ever win a leg in the local circuit.
Aunzo, meanwhile, had a very distinguished amateur career but has never dominated in the pros.
The PGT season actually got off the ground last week, with Dutchman Guido Van der Valk winning The Country Club Invitational held in honor of Don Pocholo Razon, the late father of golf patron and port magnate Ricky Razon.
There will be a total of 22 foreigners playing in the 7-2hole event where the top 35 finishers will be given Category 6 entries and the next 35 to earn Category 7 status.
During his prime, Salvador was a force on tour. He won a PGT leg at Splendido in 2016 over Jay Bayron after draining six birdies in a 10-hole stretch in the final round for a five-under-par 67 and a 277 total.