November 22, 2025 | 12:42pm
MANILA, Philippines — Closer and closer – yet harder and harder.
The road to a historic LIV Golf League appearance keeps tightening for Miguel Tabuena, its door narrowing with every hole played. But in Riyadh, that door flickered open once more.
When Tabuena buried a clutch birdie putt from nearly three pin lengths on the 18th, it felt less like a closing flourish and more like a declaration. The ball rolled with conviction, tracking its line perfectly before dropping into the cup – triggering Tabuena’s familiar, subdued fist pump.
A small gesture, but one that hinted at something larger brewing – a Filipino making a seismic push toward one of golf’s most exclusive and lucrative stages.
That dramatic finish capped a near-flawless four-under 67, giving him an 11-under 202 total after three sizzling rounds at the par-71 Riyadh Golf Club – a layout that had been bullied all week by an elite field.
But for Tabuena, the Saudi International isn’t merely another International Series stop. It could be the turning point of his career, the week that launches him straight into the LIV Golf League.
From tied 19th at the halfway point to a share of 12th entering the final day, the 31-year-old has dragged himself into the fringes of the fight. He’s still several steps from his target – at least a Top 6 finish in the season-long International Series standings – but crucially, he’s now within striking distance.
Only two players from the International Series secure automatic LIV Golf berths. No. 1 Scott Vincent has all but locked one of them, leaving the second slot a knife-edge battle between Japan’s Yosuke Asaji and Tabuena.
And fate, for once, offered the Filipino a lifeline.
Asaji’s stunning early exit this week reshuffled the landscape entirely. The door that seemed sealed suddenly cracked open again, and Tabuena now controls his destiny – though that control comes with enormous pressure.
To leapfrog Asaji in the points race, Tabuena needs at least a finish equivalent to No. 6. But with ties almost guaranteed in a congested leaderboard, he realistically must aim even higher – toward fourth or fifth place, where the points are richer, the stakes heavier and the margin for error nonexistent.
He sits two strokes behind a logjam of players at fourth with 200s – Richard Bland, Adrian Meronk and Anthony Kim – while several others, including Cameron Tringale, Danthai Boonma and Vincent, hover just one shot better at 12-under for joint seventh.
Dean Burmester fired a 64 to draw level with Caleb Surratt, who posted a 68, as both reached 196 for the lead, one stroke ahead of Josele Ballester, who put together a 66 for a 197 total.
Indeed, t’s a chaotic battlefield ahead. The course is yielding birdies, the leaderboard is packed, and the prize money has every contender going all-out.
But Tabuena has shown he’s willing to wade straight into the fire.
From deep in the pack after 36 holes, he attacked early with birdies on two of his first four holes. A bogey on the ninth slowed him, but the Filipino star refused to fold. He overpowered the last two par-5s, showcased the resolve that has defined his recent resurgence, and delivered crucial par saves on the pressure-packed 16th and 17th.
Statistically, nothing stood out – just nine fairways and 15 greens – but his consistency on the greens has been his anchor – 29 putts in all three rounds, an elite level of steadiness that has kept him afloat.
On the final day, Tabuena will tee off in the fifth-to-the-last group beside Paul Casey and Charles Howell III – players he once merely watched on television growing up.
Now, he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with them, one strong round away from rewriting Philippine golf history.
This is more than a tournament. This is a mission, a chance to drag an entire nation to the doorstep of LIV Golf for the first time. The weight is enormous, but Tabuena has carried it before.
And judging by his third-round fire, his composure and the quiet but unmistakable momentum at his back, he is not backing down from this once-in-a-lifetime shot at global stardom.