PGA Tour Latin America: Latinos fight against the North American domain
Five Argentines, three Colombians, three Chileans, two Brazilians, and one Mexican will compete to overthrow the Americans
The PGA Tour Latin America, the professional men's circuit in Latin America, announced the competition calendar for the second half of 2018. The great challenge for Latin American golfers is to dethrone the Americans Tyson Alexander, Austin Smotherman, and Matt Gilchrest, who occupy the first, second, and third positions, respectively, of the Order of Merit of the tour.
Leer en español: PGA Tour Latinoamérica: la pelea de los latinos contra el dominio norteamericano
Latin Americans against Americans
According to the Order of Merit of the PGA Tour Latin America, which is a ranking defined according to the monetary earnings of each player, the Colombian Marcelo Rozo, the Argentine Andrés Gallegos, and the Colombian Nicolás Echavarría are the only Latin Americans of the Top 10. "I believe I have what it takes to dream about something big. I am in a good position to achieve it. With dedication and work in the second half of the year I can specify that goal", said the Argentine golfer in an interview with PGA Tour Latin America. The Colombian Marcelo Rozo is the first classified of the Order of Merit, but the Americans follow him extremely close.
In addition, the Chileans Horacio León and Cristóbal Del Solar, the Colombian Santiago Gómez and the Argentines Thomas Baik and Sebastián Saavedra are the Latin Americans who are in the Top 20 of the Order of Merit. A little further down, in the Top 30, there are the Brazilians Alexandre Rocha and Rafael Becker, the Chilean Benjamín Alvarado, the Argentine Tommy Cocha, and the Mexican Juan Pablo Hernández.
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The legion of Latin American golfers will compite with the faithful conviction of achieving triumphs and economic recognitions to be closer to the leadership of the North Americans. "I come with a lot of confidence and a lot of desire to win. I have faith that this semester can come out the win", said the Chilean Benjamín Alvarado in statements to the official website of the circuit.
Americans occupy 70% of the Top 10 of the Tour, so that Latin Americans should take advantage of every competition they dispute in order to climb the classification and enter the top positions.
This is the calendar
After a break of more than 3 months, the PGA Tour Latin America starts with two competitions in Brazil:
- The São Paulo Golf Championship, which was played from September 10 to 16 and in which the Colombian Nicolás Echavarría won
- The 65th JHSF Brazil Open, which took place from 17 to 23 of the same month and in which the Colombian Marcelo Rozo triumphed, reaching the first position of the tournament
El calendario de la segunda mitad de nuestra temporada 2018 ya está disponible. Serán 8 torneos en 6 países entre septiembre y diciembre. Con ellos se completa una temporada #pgatourla de 17 torneos en 11 países.
Todos los detalles: https://t.co/5QY2Xi9dru pic.twitter.com/tqpmvErAqE
— PGATOURLA (@PGATOURLA) 13 de agosto de 2018
"São Paulo is not only one of the largest cities in the world, it is also one of the most vibrant. We feel privileged to play two tournaments at large golf courses in their metropolitan area and allow Brazilian fans to see the best that the PGA Tour Latin America has to offer", said Jack Warfield, president of the circuit in statements to the official PGA website.
Now, the competition will arrive in three countries: to Mexico with the San Luis Open from October 1 to October 7, to Chile with the Chilean Open from the 8th to the 14th of the same month, and to Peru with the Peru Open from October 15th to the 21st.
Once this hectic and competitive month is over, the circuit will travel to Argentina for the Neuquén Argentina Classic from November 5 to 11 and the 113 VISA Open of Argentina, one of the most historic tournaments in the world, from 12 to 18 same month.
"We are thrilled to see the direction the tournament has taken, sending them to our historic VISA Open in Argentina. Local fans will have a lot to enjoy in the definition of the Zurich Argentina Swing", said Warfield on the PGA Tour Latin America website.
El calendario de la segunda mitad de nuestra temporada 2018 ya está disponible. Serán 8 torneos en 6 países entre septiembre y diciembre. Con ellos se completa una temporada #pgatourla de 17 torneos en 11 países.
Todos los detalles: https://t.co/5QY2Xi9dru pic.twitter.com/tqpmvErAqE
— PGATOURLA (@PGATOURLA) 13 de agosto de 2018
The PGA Tour Latin America Tour Championship in Florida: the last and exclusive great test
The last major test of the PGA will be a special championship that will be held from November 26 to December 2 in Florida, United States. According to PGA Tour Latin America, the exclusivity of the championship is high, since only golfers who are within the Top 60 of the Order of Merit after the tournaments in Argentina will be able to participate.
The event will specify the definitive classification of the Order of Merit of the PGA Tour Latin America, which will give the top five finishers a direct ranking to the Web.com Tour 2019, which is the second tournament in importance behind the PGA TOUR.
From the sixth to the tenth place their participation will be assured in the final stage of the Q-School, which is the qualifying phase prior to the Web.com Tour. It will be a highly competitive semester in which Latin Americans will seek to counteract the powerful North American dominance.
LatinAmerican Post | Javier Aldana
Translated from "PGA Tour Latinoamérica: la pelea de los latinos contra el dominio norteamericano"
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