Eighty-two bidders, including 24 foreign bets, kick of their drive for berths in the Philippine Golf Tour 2020 season in the PGT Qualifying School which fires off today (Tuesday) at Splendido Taal Golf Club in Batangas.

Ten players from the US, nine from Korea and one each from Venezuela, Spain, Japan, Australia and South Africa, including a number of amateurs, join the 58 locals in the fold, ready and eager to earn cards in the country’s premier circuit which starts March 25-28 for the ICTSI Summit Point Challenge in Lipa City, Batangas.

They include those who landed outside of the Top 40 in last year’s PGT Order of Merit ranking, including many-time Masters champions Robert Pactolerin and Rodrigo Cuello, former national titlist Jun Bernis, big-hitting Sean Talmadge, former PGT leg winner Arnold Villacencio and former national team mainstay Rey Pagunsan.

Leading the foreign roster are Americans Shane Favinger, Edd Hackett and CJ Lee, Korean Hwang Myung Chal, Rafael Parra of Venezuela, Emilio Parodi of Spain and former national amateur champion Gen Nagai of Japan.

For the local qualifiers, the top 40 and ties after 36 holes will advance to the final two rounds with the top 30 to be included in Category 6 and the rest settling for Category 9 of the 2020 PGT starting fields while the top 12 after 72 holes in the foreign qualifiers will gain Category 7 slots with the rest to be included in Category 9.

Meanwhile, the PGT Asia Q-School will be held April 22-25 at Luisita Golf and Country Club with the fourth season of the region’s emerging circuit to start, also in Tarlac, for the ICTSI Luisita Championship on April 28-May 1.

Two other tournaments included in PGTA 2019 season will be held at Riviera on March 17-20 and at Southwoods on March 31-April 3.