CARL CORPUS will be gunning for more than a second Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) victory-third professional career title-in the ICTSI Summit Point Championship that starts Tuesday at Summit Point Golf and Country Club in Lipa City.
The 25-year-old rising star also sees the 72-hole, P2.5-million championship as a crucial tuneup for his national team duty at the Aichi-Nagoya 20th Asian Games later this month.
Corpus will help lead the Philippine charge in the Asiad alongside LIV Golf mainstay Miguel Tabuena and Japan Golf Tour campaigner Justin delos Santos.
His return to the Asian Games comes three years after a debut in Hangzhou that fell short of his expectations-he and cousin and PGT regular Aidric Chan finished 33rd in the individual competition and helped the Philippines tie for ninth in the team event.
Three years later, however, Corpus heads back to the Asiad as a vastly different player-older, battle-tested and armed with a professional resume that continues to grow.
Since Hangzhou, he has steadily established himself on both the international and domestic circuits-he broke through on the Asian Development Tour with a victory in the Morocco Rising Stars Marrakech last year before claiming his first PGT championship at Valley Golf in Antipolo at the close of the 2025 local season.
Those victories gave Corpus something he did not have during his Asiad debut: proven success at the professional level.
But first things first as Corpus is keen to make the most of the PGT’s return after a two-month break with Summit Point providing exactly the kind of competitive test he needs before heading to Japan.
Among those set to challenge Corpus for the crown are reigning Order of Merit champion Angelo Que and multi-titled campaigners Keanu Jahns, Tony Lascuña, Reymon Jaraula, Guido van der Valk and Zanieboy Gialon.
Young guns Sean Ramos, Jeffren Lumbo and Russell Bautista will also be in the mix, along with Chan and Fil-Am Ivan Yabut.
Focus will also be on Justin Quiban, who returns to the Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.-organized circuit after making a dramatic statement by winning the season-opening Lakewood Championship.
A strong foreign contingent led by Koreans Taewon Ha, Kim Tae Soo, Jisung Cheon and Lee Song and Japanese Sena Shiraishi and Kashihara Hirotaka are also in the field.