Pickleball in the Philippines is rapidly developing, and Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental is positioning itself at the center of that growth.
While major pickleball tournaments in the country have promoted prize pools in the P700,000 range in recent years, and already seen as massive in the local sports scene, Dumaguete is raising the bar significantly with the announcement of the PlanOut Pickleball Open, scheduled for May 1-3, and featuring a P1,000,000 total pooled prize, the Capitol said April 6.
Organizers said the goal is not just to create a high-stakes competition, but to introduce a new standard for how local tournaments can be presented, managed, and experienced.
Beyond the competition, the event is part of Dumaguete’s broader effort to strengthen its presence in the national pickleball scene, supporting sports tourism and attracting visitors for multi-day stays, the Capitol said.
PlanOut V2, a new event-technology platform, will officially launch in Dumaguete on April 11. Organizers are merging the app debut with the tournament to create a unified national event.
Registration will bypass standard online forms. Instead, spots will be secured through a timed “Registration Drop”, mirroring the high-demand release style of major concert tours.
“When you put P1 million on the line, you change how players plan, travel, and prepare. We wanted a system that could handle national demand fairly and transparently,” PlanOut CEO Kim Joseph Llena said.
There are two ways to register for the million-peso pickleball match. One is on-ground registration at 11:11 a.m. on April 11, and online registration at 1 p.m., also this Saturday.
The first set of guaranteed slots will be released exclusively to attendees present at the PlanOut V2 launch in Dumaguete. To qualify, attendees must use the PlanOut event app onsite, create and verify their account, should receive a presale access pass (QR/PIN), and unlock early registration rights before the public release.
Players and clubs can join the pre-registration list to receive official updates and drop instructions via https://planout.typeform.com/pickleball-v2, the Capitol added. ||
