Elite golf players chase title at Lima Golf Club

The 10th South American Amateur Championship 2015 will be contested January 22-25 at Lima Golf Club, Peru. The event is organized by the Peruvian Golf Federation and the South American Golf Federation, and will be attended by the best amateur players from across the entire region, as well as guests from The R&A and the United States Golf Association (USGA), all of them chasing the title of best player in South America.

The Championship’s Opening Ceremony was held today at the event’s venue, with the attendance of 107 players (70 men, 37 women) from the 20 participating countries. The invitees also included Javier Claux, President of the Peruvian Golf Federation, and Martín Alarco, Executive Director of the Peruvian Golf Federation, Donald Turner, Chairman Development Committee R&A, Duncan Weir, R&A’s Executive Director – Working for Golf, and Mark Lawrie, R&A’s Director – Latin America, USGA’s Donald Donovan, Enrique Otero, Executive Secretary of the South American Golf Federation and the delegation representatives of each country.

This is one of the most important amateur championships in the world—granting points for the World Amateur Golf Ranking—and is endorsed by Scotland’s The R&A, one of the most prestigious golf clubs, which promotes the game internationally.

The championship puts Peru in the international golf limelight. For the first time, the USGA has sent an official delegation to participate in this event, namely the two crowned champions of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, Mike McCoy (2013) and Scott Harvey (2014), who will play The Masters this year, and the winners of the Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship Margaret Shirley (2014) and Meghan Stasi (2006, 2007, 2010 and 2012). Moreover, The R&A players include England’s two-time European Amateur Championship winner Ashley Chesters, who holds the 22nd position in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and who will play in 2015’s British Open for the second year in a row.

Local players seek to make history. In the women’s division, Gutiérrez is after the trophy for the second time.

Peruvian golfers in the men’s division include: Patricio Alzamora, Patricio Freundt Thurne, Iñigo Ganoza, Christian Graf, Enrique Grau, Alonso Palma, Wolfang Pedal, Miguel Tola, Sebastián Valdivia, Santiago Zubiate, Andrés Cáceres and Hubert Nieto (the last two are the first players to come from the San Bartolo Golf School for Children, under the Golf for Everyone program sponsored by the Peruvian Golf Federation). The women’s division will see the participation of Lucía Gutiérrez—who defends the sole Peruvian title in this tournament, won in Barranquilla, Colombia, in 2014—and Gabriela Barrios, María José Corzo, Simone de Souza and Micaela Farah.

The historical golfing week that has started in Peru will conclude with new champions in the men’s and women’s divisions, further enriching the history of golf in the region.