With less than a week before blast off, the popular 2009 Sta. Lucia Golf Tour get into a feverish pitch as participants prepare for the opening leg on Sept. 5-6 at the well-maintained Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club in Davao City.

There will be 200 players representing the nine exclusive clubs operating under the umbrella of real estate giant Sta. Lucia who will battle it out in the first of four legs covering Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Eagle Ridge is fielding the most with 40 players, Alta Vista is next with 38, Rancho Palos Verdes 36, Royale Tagaytay has 32, Orchard 14, Summit Point 14, Lakewood 10 and Lake Caliraya 6.

Beverly Place of Pampanga, is fielding 10 players in its debut in the series sponsored by Hyundai, Autohub, Wilson, LG Electronics and Philippine Airlines. Marriott-Cebu, Marco Polo Hotel-Davao and Bellevue Manila are the official hotels.

Participants will bid to produce points for their respective clubs in the race for the Club of the Year which Alta Vista of Cebu will try to successfully defend. The best pair from each club per handicap grouping will count for the overall race.

From Palos Verdes, the series goes to Alta Vista for the Visayas stop on Oct. 2-3.

Summit Point will make its debut as a Tour host this season. The Robert Trent Jones, Jr. designed course serves as one of the two venues, the other being Eagle Ridge, for the culminating Luzon leg on Nov. 6-7.