After working on getting Asia's oldest national championship rebooted this year, the organizing National Golf Association of the Philippines did not leave any stone unturned in trying to have the country's best players see action and keep the Smart Infinity Philippine Open title on home soil.

An invite was sent out to rising US PGA Tour star Rico Hoey, there were also ones sent out to Japan Tour mainstays Juvic Pagunsan and Justin delos Santos and also to lady amateur Rianne Malixi and two-time US Women's Open champion Yuka Saso.

Malixi has graciously accepted to take on the challenge playing with the men, and while Hoey, who plays under the PH flag in the US, Pagunsan and Saso declined, Delos Santos is set to plane in on Jan. 18 to give himself the best possible shot at winning the $500,000 (about P29M) event.

"Like all the tournaments I sign up for, I will come there to win," the 29-year-old Delos Santos, born and raised in the US who will be making his first trip back home in four years. "It would be a special tournament to win."

Hoey politely begged off from "having an honor to play there" because of commitments made to the PGA Tour as early as November; Pagunsan refused a direct invite by Southwoods, while Saso was also already tied up with the US LPGA.

But with Miguel Tabuena, who will be the highest-ranked Filipino in the field at 267th in the world, and Delos Santos, who has been toughened by years of battle in Japan, and multi-leg Asian Tour winner and former champion Angelo Que, among others present, the Philippines has a very good shot at ruling the 72-hole championship.  

"The Filipinos in the field are formidable, and having Rianne there brings excitement and unpredictability," Martin Lorenzo, the president of the NGAP, said. "Our countrymen have a real chance to keep the title on home soil, which would be a great source of pride for our country."

Tabuena ruled the event in 2018 by turning back Prom Meesawat, and the prodigious former India Open champion is listed as one of the favorites mainly because of his innate knowledge of the Masters course of the Carmona, Cavite complex

Some of the finest players in Asia will be coming over for the Jan. 23-26 event, which was shuttered during the pandemic. Clyde Mondilla won it the last time it was held in 2019 at The Country Club in Laguna.

Incidentally, Southwoods is set to fill up the final three slots of its direct seeding privilege by holding a qualifying Sunday at the Masters, where a mix of more than 20 pros and members of the rock-solid Southwoods team will be vying for the last three slots. The club had given an invite to Aguri Iwasaki, a former mainstay of its team and now Japan Tour star ranked 376th in the world.