Home-schooled due to a challenging playing schedule as a youngster, Tabuena was highly rated as a teenager, winning amateur events in Malaysia and Singapore – as well as a silver medal in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. While still in his teens, finished in the top 40 of the 2011 Asian Tour Qualifying Final Stage in Thailand as an amateur. Subsequently turned professional in February of that year. Won eight times on the Philippine Golf Tour between 2012 and 2015 but made a big breakthrough in 2015 when he became the first Filipino since 2008 to win his national open, recording his first Asian Tour victory at the Philippines Open.