The country’s top guns returns from an Asian Tour stint, all geared up for a fierce battle for the top P650,000 purse in the rich ICTSI Anvaya Cove Invitational which unfolds May 13 at the Anvaya Cove Golf and Sports Club in Morong, Bataan.

Three-time ICTSI Order of Merit winner Tony Lascuna, current OOM leader Miguel Tabuena, three-time Asian Tour champion Angelo Que have signed up for the P3.5 million event, completing a stellar roster spiced up by eight foreign players in the fifth leg of the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour.

The Anvaya Invitational also serves as the first two new events on the local tour calendar, the other being the ICTSI Luisita Championship set May 20-23 at the Luisita Golf Club in Tarlac, which is making its return to big-time golf since the President’s Cup in 1989.

Elmer Salvador, Jay Bayron, Frankie Minoza, Cassius Casas, Orlan Sumcad, Ferdie Aunzo, Rufino Bayron, Jun Bernis, Clyde Mondilla, Mars Pucay and Arnold Villacencio are also in the Anvaya roster, upbeat of their respective chances in the 72-hole championship organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.

But the local aces will also have to contend with a slew of foreign rivals out to score a nail a win on the local circuit, including former leg winner Toru Nakajima and fellow Japanese Yuta Sudo, Koreans Anthony Kim, Thomas Kim and Gyuha Park, young Micah Shin of the US, South African Joshua Seale and Dutch Guido Van der Valk.

Tabuena and Lascuna fell short of their title bid at ICTSI Eagle Ridge Invitational of the Asian Development Tour last month, losing to Malaysian Arie Irawan before the duo, together with Que, skipped the ICTSI Sherwood Hills Classic for the Indonesian Masters where Que finished seventh with a final round 66.

But all will be coming into the Anvaya event in top form although the par-72, 7200-yard wind-raked layout, hosting a tournament of this magnitude for the first time, is expected to provide a true test of golf for the elite field.

Spruced up to championship condition, Anvaya Cove’s frontside, called the Mountain Nine, is situated near the peaks and ridges and punishes wayward shots with its hazards and bunkers while the field will have to deal with the wind-raked backside, the Seaside Nine.

Click to see details of the 2015 ICTSI Anvaya Cove Invitational