Perth, Australia: Filipino Miguel Tabuena believes he is in the best form to take on the strong field that will assemble at the ISPS Handa Perth International which tees off at the Lake Karrinyup Country Club on Thursday.

The talented Filipino has enjoyed a sensational start to the season with two top-five finishes in three starts on the Asian Tour.

Tabuena’s latest exploits in Malaysia where he contended before finishing tied-second also saw him surged to second place on the Order of Merit and 108th position on the world rankings.

“Last week’s performance has really given me a huge confidence boost. It showed that I can play against the big boys and hopefully I can keep this momentum going and play the way I’m playing now.

“It’s like I’m at the peak of my powers. The hard work is beginning to pay off but that doesn’t mean I can ease off, I just got to work even harder,” said the 21-year-old.

Tabuena, who had his first practice session at the Lake Karrinyup Country Club, knows that overcoming the fast greens around the course will be decisive in his bid to win the ISPS Handa Perth International, which sees the return of the best players from the Asian Tour to Australia for the first time since 2009.

“The biggest challenge for me this week would be the greens as I’m not used to playing to this kind of greens. I guess I have to put in more effort on the putting green later.

“I hope to break into the world top-100 and that’s definitely possible with a good result this week,” said Tabuena.

The ISPS Handa Perth International is the only golf tournament in Australia to be tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and European Tour and will feature over 20 tournament winners from the Asian Tour.

Major winner Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa will also headline the event alongside the stars from Europe including Italy’s Matteo Manassero and France’s Victor Dubuisson.