Tour de las Américas

The Tour de las Américas (TLA) was the principal men's professional golf tour throughout Latin America and the Caribbean from 2000 through to 2012 when it was superseded by PGA Tour Latinoamérica.

History

Top level tournament golf in Latin America has had an unstable history. Some of the national open championships in the region are long established, but they did not traditionally form a coherent tour. From the late 1950s through to the mid 1970s the Caribbean Tour, which was affiliated with the PGA Tour, comprised only a small number of tournaments but attracted entrants from leading European and American golfers. As interest from PGA Tour players dwindled, the tour eventually withdrew their support and the Caribbean Tour folded. The next attempt was the IMG promoted South American Tour, which began in 1979 with the existing national opens of the five leading Latin American countries and a circuit prize sponsored by Pierre Cardin.[1]

A new circuit was founded in 1991, the Tour Sudamericano,[2] which would become the first long-lived stable tour in the region. In 2000, new owners relaunched the tour under the name Tour de las Américas with the aim of creating a schedule which would cover the whole region from Argentina to the Caribbean, and gain broader media exposure. The tour soon introduced a policy of co-sanctioning some events with Europe's second tier Challenge Tour, and some years later, in 2008, a similar arrangement was agreed with the Canadian Tour. The TLA also co-operated with the Nationwide Tour; whereby some of the leading Tour de las Américas players are given entries to specific Nationwide Tour events.

In the early 21st century, Latin America was the only region of the World which still did not have a professional tour which was a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours, the Tour de las Américas having joined the federation as an associate member on July 30, 2007. In August 2010, the Governing Board of the Official World Golf Ranking made a provisional announcement that the tour would offer ranking points starting in 2011.[3] The first tournament to receive ranking points was 2011 Abierto de Chile[4]

Order of Merit winners
SeasonPlayerCountryPointsEarnings (US$)
2012Marco Ruiz Paraguay26,884
2011Joaquín Estévez Argentina51,970
2010Julián Etulain Argentina56,593
2009Peter Gustafsson Sweden40,934
2008Estanislao Goya Argentina58,104
2007Miguel Rodríguez Argentina60,180
2006Fabrizio Zanotti Paraguay68,790
2005Daniel Barbetti Argentina41,514
2004Rafael Gómez Argentina59,220
2003Eduardo Argiró Argentina48,174
2001–02Rafael Gómez Argentina55,987
2000–01Angel Romero Colombia49,396
South American Tour
1999Scott Dunlap United States
1998Raúl Fretes Paraguay
1997Ricardo González Argentina
1996Pedro Martínez Paraguay
1995Ángel Cabrera Argentina
1994Raúl Fretes Paraguay
1993Carlos Franco Paraguay
1992Eric Woods United States
1991Ángel Franco Paraguay

References
  1. Dobereiner, Peter (9 April 1979). "How the various golf circuits may be shorted". Business Times. Singapore. p. 11. Retrieved 6 March 2020 – via National Library Board.
  2. "El Tour de las Américas homenajea al Dr. Humberto Berger". Crónica Golf (in Spanish). 3 June 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  3. Official World Golf Ranking Board Announces New Directives Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  4. TLA events count for World Ranking starting this week Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine
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