Tabuena ailing, vies in Sony tilt

MANILA, Philippines - Miguel Tabuena kicks off his 2017 campaign in the Sony Open of the PGA Tour Thursday in Honolulu, Hawaii (Friday in Manila), hoping to buck fever and the elite field as he seeks to make it to the weekend play after missing the cut by two last year.

Currently at No. 144 in the world, Tabuena will go up against Japanese Satoshi Kodaira and Aussie Steven Alker at 1:10 p.m. on the first hole of the Waialae Country Club, looking for a strong start in a field teeming with talent, headed by former world No. 1 Jonathan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama and last week’s winner Justin Thomas.

The flu-stricken Tabuena actually played in the pro-am of the $6 million championship Wednesday, which serves as the Filipino shotmaker’s first event in a grueling campaign abroad in pursuit of world ranking points, including a stint in the European Tour where he plans to play in 12 tournaments.

The 22-year-old shotmaker finished fifth in the Asian Tour Order of Merit ranking last year, spiked by a joint runner-up effort in the Malaysian Open where he earned $262,565 (P12.8 million).

“That was my biggest earning and that’s how I got my card in Europe,” said Tabuena in a recent interview.

Tabuena, the country’s top player in 2015 who aims to gain ranking points to break into the world’s top 100, is also set to play in 15 Asian Tour events this year, including the rich Singapore Open next week, where he turned in a strong joint fourth place finish, just two strokes behind former world No. 1 Jordan Spieth and three off winner Younghan Song of South Korea.

After the Sony and the Singapore Open, a PGA Tour event, Tabuena will proceed to Myanmar for another tournament and will then head to the Malaysian Open after a short break.

A tournament in Johannesburg in South Africa is also being considered with the ace Filipino shotmaker also setting his sights for the defense of his Philippine Open crown he won at Luisita to cap his breakout 2015 season. The Solaire Philippine Open is set March 2-5 at the newly-refurbished The Country Club course in Laguna.