Crisologo and Escauriza, winners of the South American Amateur Open in Chile
Canadian Chris Crisologo and Paraguayan María Fernanda Escauriza escaped with the trophies of the XIV South American Amateur Open, the first competition of the Schedule of the South American Golf Federation in 2019 and that concluded this Sunday at Los Leones Golf Club in Santiago de Chile.
Crisologo successfully defended his title, obtained a year ago in Argentina after he defeated the Costa Rican Luis Gagne on the second extra hole, while Escauriza was crowned wire to wire, confirming once again the great moment of Paraguayan women’s golf.
An esencial birdie in par 5 hole 18 gave Crisologo and Gagne the possibility of finishing the 72 holes ties in the first position with 281 (-7), with players like the Colombian Iván Camilo Ramírez and the Argentinean Leandro Correa climbing to the top during the round.
Crisologo and Gagne finished with scores of 69 and 72 respectively. After match the first extra hole, the defending champion took advantage of a ball landed in the bunker from Gagne to hole the birdie that gave him the title. “This is a different victory, it’s a very different course. It was a privilege to be here and it was a very fun week at the end”, said Crisologo.
The Argentinean Leandro Correa, with the best round of the day (66), and the English Thomas Plumb (72), matched in the third place with 282 (-6), followed by the Chilean Tomás Gana, the Argentine Horacio Carbonetti and the Colombian Ramírez, all in 283 (-5).
Escauriza, in the women category, leave no room for her rivals to try to put pression in the round, finishing as the only player with her four rounds under par The golfer from Asunción finished with her second score 68 (-4) in a row, counting 276 (-12). Her compatriot Sofía García (69), was second with -8.
“I am very happy with my game, because the truth is that I was very stable the four days. I am very excited to have won this tournament”, said Escauriza, who relieved her countrywoman Milagros Chávez (2018) as the best in South America in this competition.
Colombian María José Bohórquez, with a total of 287 (-1), was third alone, followed by Argentina’s Valentina Rossi and Chile’s Antonia Matte.