The illusion of going to three Majors begins: LAAC 2024 begins

The Latin America Amateur Golf Championship returned to Panama after seven years. In the new home for the tournament, the Santa María Golf Club, 108 players from 29 countries and territories will go for the jackpot, the title of champion and the place to participate in three of the four Majors. The tournament will have a signal from ESPN2 and Star+, this Thursday, starting at 2 pm

Since its inaugural edition in 2015, the competition, created by the USGA, the Masters Tournament and The R&A, has been growing in importance and opportunities for its participants.

Several of the Latin American figures from the professional circuits passed through the LAAC, among them, the Colombians Juan Sebastián Muñoz and Nicolás Echavarría and the Chilean Joaquín Niemann, all tournament winners on the PGA Tour and two of them, Muñoz and Niemann, teammates at LIV Golf, at Torque.

Precisely, the LAAC was the launching pad for Niemann, champion of the tournament in 2018 with a spectacular performance playing at home in Santiago.

The prizes for the champion of the Latin America Amateur Championship

What the winner gets is not at all negligible: will play the Masters, the US Open and the British Open, in addition to the slots for the US Amateur and The Amateur Championship. That is, he will have contact with the great figures of this sport.

For Colombia, the LAAC has been an elusive objective, both in its organization and in its participation. About to reach its first decade, the tournament has never set foot on Colombian soil: the venue has rotated through Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Chile, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Nor has a Colombian been able to be crowned champion and embrace glory: the one who came closest was José Vega, who in 2020 arrived as the leader in the last round and lost the title on the closing day against a young Argentine named Abel Gallegos, today a member of the Korn Ferry Tour, at only 21 years old.

Eight Colombian players will go for an unprecedented trophy. None of them comes with the favorite label. One of them, Mateo Fuenmayor, was the leader of the LAAC in the first round of 2023, in Puerto Rico, although he could not maintain the pace afterwards. This year he seeks revenge.

“Obviously, this is one of the best courses I've played on, so if I want that to be the case, I'm going to have to play my game, try to put the ball in play and make a lot of birdies. I know it's a very difficult task to achieve, but with the way I'm playing and with my confidence, I feel like why not, you never know,” Fuenmayor said.

Seven of the Colombian participants already know the LAAC. There is only one debutant, Carlos Andrés Hernández, from the Serrezuela club, who is already playing in the NCAA with the Niagara University team. He achieved his place after the loss, due to injury, of the experienced Manuel José Merizalde.

Fuenmayor, Carlos Ardila, Juan Carlos Velásquez, Daniel Faccini, Carlos Ernesto Rodríguez, Juan Alejandro Ángel and Juan Camilo Malagón complete the Colombian quota.

“Returning to the LAAC is complete happiness for me, it is an emotion and I am very excited. It is one of my favorite tournaments during the year and one of the most important to start the season. This championship not only represents a great goal for me but also an opportunity to show myself at an international level,” said Velásquez.

For his part, Ardila arrives motivated by his good performance in the South American Amateur Championship, which was played from January 11 to 14 at the Country Club of Bogotá. He was one of the two Colombians who finished in the Top 10 of the tournament: he finished eighth, six shots behind the champion, the Ecuadorian Felipe Garcés. It will be his fourth participation in the tournament: he was in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and he made the cut in all of them: his best performance was 13th place in Chile 2018.

Colombia arrives with a low profile, but with intentions of surprising. After a very good 2023 for professional golf, fans hope to follow the example of what was done by Muñoz, Echavarría and Camilo Villegas, who, by the way, will return to the Masters in 2024 thanks to his victory in the Bermuda Championship. Maybe he will have another compatriot at his side.

Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Deputy Editor
City of Panama
*Invited by the LAAC

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