Chile's Prince of Wales to host 2018 Latin America Amateur Championship
The next Latin American Amateur Championship will take place in Chile.
The 2018 event is set for Prince of Wales Country Club in Santiago, Chile, a development tournament organizers announced on Thursday.
The championship will take place from Jan. 18-21.
“We are proud to be chosen as the host for next year’s Latin America Amateur Championship and to support the important strides this event is making for golf in our region,” said Carlos Ruiz de Gamboa, a board member of both Prince of Wales Country Club and the Chilean Golf Federation. “The LAAC has quickly become a world-class championship. Our course’s unique features and challenges make it an exceptional venue to stage this event and showcase the future of golf in Latin America.”
Prince of Wales Country Club, an Alex MacDonald design, previously hosted the 1998 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship and the Chile Classic on the Web.com Tour from 2012-2014.
The 2017 championship is currently being contested at Panama Golf Club in Panama City, with 21-year-old Alvaro Ortiz as the 54-hole leader. The tournament’s winner earns an invitation to this year’s Masters as well as exemptions into the British Amateur, U.S. Amateur and final stages of qualifying for the U.S. Open and British Open.
The 2018 proceedings will mark the fourth edition of the event, and it will be the second to take place in South America.
The move to Chile is intended to further stir the growth of the tournament.
“Chile has seen the impact the Latin America Amateur Championship can have on these players after Matias Dominguez became the first LAAC champion,” said Felipe Berlin, the chairman of the Chilean Golf Federation. “We hope to continue that momentum with the 2018 LAAC as the best and brightest amateur golfers of Latin America gather in Chile to contend for the many opportunities this event presents.”
