After a sabbatical due to COVID-19 complications, Augusta National Golf Club announced overnight that the Latin America Amateur Championship will return in 2022.
Founded by the Masters Tournament, USGA and R&A in 2014, the event’s mission is to give a platform to the sport in South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. Next year’s event will be contested beginning on January 20 at Casa de Campo’s Teeth of the Dog course in the Dominican Republic.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome the region’s top amateurs back to Casa de Campo, as the Latin America Amateur Championship returns to form,” said Andres Pichardo Rosenberg, president of Casa de Campo. “Teeth of the Dog is both a beautiful and challenging championship venue, and our team relishes the opportunity to continue our wonderful partnership with the Masters Tournament, the R&A and the USGA and showcase the ever-expanding talent in our region.”
The LAAC champ receives invitations to the Masters, the Open Championship, and the US and British Amateur championships. The winner also receives full exemptions into any other USGA amateur championship for which he is eligible, and is exempt into the final stage of qualifying for the 122nd US Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Joaquin Niemann is a past winner of the LAAC, with PGA Tour winner Sebastian Munoz also a past LAAC participant. Álvaro Ortiz, who won the 2019 competition when it was last played at Casa de Campo, was the first Mexican player in the Masters field since 1979, and ultimately made the cut.
The last winner of the LAAC was Argentina’s Abel Gallegos in 2020 at Mexico’s El Camaleon Golf Club.
PHOTO: Enrique Berardi
