Latin America Amateur Championship

Latin America Amateur Championship
Tournament information
LocationRotates through Latin America
Panama (2024)
Established2015
Course(s)Santa Maria Golf Club (2024)
Par72
Length7,153 yards (6,541 m)
FormatStroke play
Month playedJanuary
Tournament record score
Aggregate265 Mateo Fernández de Oliveira (2023)
To par−23 as above
Current champion
Mexico Santiago de la Fuente

The Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC)[1] is an annual amateur golf tournament, organized in conjunction with the Augusta National Golf Club, organizer of the Masters Tournament; The R&A, organizers of The Open Championship; and the United States Golf Association (USGA). It is played at various locations throughout Latin America and was first played in 2015.

The championship is played in January and consists of 72 holes of stroke-play, with a cut for the leading 50 players and ties after 36 holes. The winner receives an invitation to the Masters Tournament, The Open Championship (from 2020), The Amateur Championship, the U.S. Amateur and any other USGA event for which they are otherwise qualified apart from the U.S. Open. The winner and runner-up gain entry to final stage qualifying for the U.S. Open.[2]

The field is restricted to players from the Latin American region (IOC-recognized countries and territories who are current members of the International Golf Federation) who have a handicap of 5.4 or less. The 29 countries are: Argentina, The Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uruguay, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Venezuela. Each country is allocated two spots in the field based on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). The remainder of the field is filled from the WAGR with a limit of six entries per country (10 for the host country).[3][4]

Winners

Year Player Score Margin
of victory		 Runner(s)-up Venue Location
2024 Mexico Santiago de la Fuente 270 (−10) 2 strokes Mexico Omar Morales Santa Maria Golf Club Panama City, Panama
2023 Argentina Mateo Fernández de Oliveira 265 (−23) 4 strokes Mexico Luis Carrera Grand Reserve Golf Club Río Grande, Puerto Rico
2022 Cayman Islands Aaron Jarvis 281 (−7) 1 stroke Brazil Fred Biondi
Mexico Santiago de la Fuente
Argentina Vicente Marzilio
Argentina Mateo Fernández de Oliveira		 Casa de Campo La Romana, Dominican Republic
2021 Cancelled[5] Lima Golf Club Lima, Peru
2020 Argentina Abel Gallegos 281 (−4) 4 strokes Mexico Aaron Terrazas El Camaleón Golf Club Playa del Carmen, Mexico
2019 Mexico Álvaro Ortiz 274 (−14) 2 strokes Costa Rica Luis Gagne Casa de Campo La Romana, Dominican Republic
2018 Chile Joaquín Niemann 273 (−11) 5 strokes Mexico Álvaro Ortiz Prince of Wales Country Club Santiago, Chile
2017 Chile Toto Gana 279 (−1) Playoff Chile Joaquín Niemann
Mexico Álvaro Ortiz		 Club de Golf de Panamá Panama City, Panama
2016 Costa Rica Paul Chaplet 285 (−3) 1 stroke Venezuela Jorge García Casa de Campo La Romana, Dominican Republic
2015 Chile Matías Domínguez 277 (−11) 1 stroke Argentina Alejandro Tosti Pilar Golf Club Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

References

  1. ^ "A perfect pairing: Chi Chi Rodriguez and the Latin America Amateur Championship". Golf Digest. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  2. ^ Harig, Bob (22 January 2014). "Masters, Latin America team up". ESPN.
  3. ^ "Qualifying Standards". Latin America Amateur Championship. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  4. ^ "Entries". Latin America Amateur Championship. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  5. ^ "Masters, R&A, USGA Cancel 2021 Latin America Amateur Due To COVID-19". Latin America Amateur Championship. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2023.