President Barack Obamais getting one last round of golf in with his Hawaii high school buddies before beginning a summit this afternoon with the leaders of 10 Southeast Asian nations.

The president’s motorcade arrived at the Sunnylands estate, where the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be held, at about 7:45 a.m.

The estate also has a 9 – golf course, where the president is playing this morning with Punahou School friends Greg Orme, Bobby Titcomb, and Mike Ramos.

The president spent Valentine’s Day weekend golfing with his friends.

On Sunday and Friday, they played at Porcupine Creek, a course on a 249-acre walled estate in Rancho Mirage, owned by Lanai island owner Larry Ellison, the founder of the Oracle software company.

On Saturday he hit the links with his friends at the Stadium Course at the PGA West Golf Course.

This afternoon, Obama and the leaders of Southeast Asian nations will gather for an unprecedented two days of talks on economic and security issues and on forging deeper ties amid China’s assertive presence in the region.

Obama has traveled to Asia for the association’s annual summit, but this is the first time leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia are meeting in the U.S. China is not an ASEAN member.

The summit was conceived as part of Obama’s mission to raise the U.S. profile and help set the agenda in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific, where China’s territorial claims over disputed waters have raised international concerns and led to friction with ASEAN countries.

Member countries make up the seventh-largest economy in the world, the White House said.

Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said the nations are important partners for the U.S. on issues ranging from the economy to maritime security and counterterrorism to combatting the threat from climate change.

By hosting the summit, “we want to make very clear that the United States is going to be at the table and a part of setting the agenda in the Asia Pacific in the decades to come,” Rhodes told reporters before the summit. “In order to do that, we need to be engaging organizations like ASEAN at the highest levels.”

ASEAN countries together represent the U.S.’ fourth-largest trading partner. Trade between them tops $226 billion.

Obama planned to focus this evening’s talks on the economy, specifically using innovation and entrepreneurship to promote prosperity in the region. After a working dinner at the estate, the conversation shifts Tuesday to regional security issues, including the South China Sea and counterterrorism, before the summit concludes at midday.

China says it has a historical right to virtually all of the South China Sea and has built seven artificial islands, including with airstrips, to assert its sovereignty. Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines also claim land features in these potentially resource-rich waters, which are an important conduit for world trade.

Though not a claimant, the U.S. has spoken out against China’s conduct and has angered Beijing by sailing Navy ships near some of the artificial islands. It has argued for the maritime rights issue to be resolved peacefully and is looking for ASEAN to take a unified stance by calling for the disputes to be resolved based on international law.