Panlilio aims to strengthen national golf program
CARMONA, Cavite—Al Panlilio has helped bring the Philippine Open back to life and turned its latest edition into the richest in the tournament’s 108-year history.
But the 63-year-old sports executive has a bigger ambition: Rebuild Philippine golf into a regional powerhouse and establish a comprehensive national team program.
Panlilio, now president of the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP), hopes to accomplish that through the National Training Center (NTC), a long-term development program for the country’s most promising golfers.
“That’s the ultimate plan, the legacy I want to leave at the NGAP. This will be a game-changer for the sport,” Panlilio said.
The former basketball executive is looking to replicate the success of the national basketball program he helped strengthen during his tenure as president of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
Under his leadership, the federation helped sustain Gilas Pilipinas’ participation in the Fiba World Cup, staged the 2023 edition of the global tournament and celebrated the country’s return to the top of the Asian Games podium after 61 years.
“The NTC for golf will make sure that our national athletes are well taken care of,” he said. “Our target would be to make sure that the Philippines returns to being the yardstick in our region and to make Olympics stints in golf a regular fare.”
Panlilio, who is serving the first year of his two-year term as NGAP president, knows funding will be crucial.
Already, Panlilio and the NGAP have moved to channel much of the additional revenue from increased handicapping fees into the national team program.
“There’s no better way to do that than make every golfer in the country a stakeholder,” Panlilio said.
“And we at the NGAP will be responsible for making that happen.”
The Open, which he helped revive last year while serving as NGAP chairman, will offer a record $1-million (about P64 million) purse when it begins Thursday at Manila Southwoods’ Masters course.
For Panlilio, the record purse is another step toward keeping the Open’s stature as one of Asia’s most prestigious golf championships.
