Four share first-round lead at Latin America Amateur
Alvaro Ortiz
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Jan. 15, 2015) — Four countries, including the host nation, are represented at the top of the first-round leaderboard at the inaugural Latin America Amateur Championship.
Juan Alvarez of Uruguay, Alvaro Ortiz of Mexico, Ian Facey of Jamaica, and Gaston Bertinotti of Argentina all put up four-under par 68s to share a one-shot lead in search of the tournament's first champion — and much more.
Among other things, the champion will receive an invitation to the 2015 Masters Tournament, joining six other amateurs already in the field like U.S. Amateur winner Gunn Yang and U.S. Mid-Amateur winner Scott Harvey.
Ortiz, who is the brother of PGA TOUR player Carlos Ortiz, plays collegiately for the University of Arkansas. He made five birdies and one bogey in his opening-round.
In total, 22 players are under par after day one with seven players sitting just one shot back with 54 holes to play, including Argentina's top-ranked player Alejandro Tosti.
Round two begins Friday at 7:30am while live coverage can be seen on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN News beginning at 10am EST.
ABOUT THE
Latin America Amateur
Founded by the Masters Tournament, The R&A and
the USGA, the LAAC was established to further
develop amateur golf in South America, Central
America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The LAAC is a
72-hole stroke play event open to a field of 108
amateur players in Latin America, chosen by their
respective national federations according to their
World Amateur Golf Ranking. Past winners of the
championship, as well as last year’s top-five
finishers, are automatically entered into this year’s
championship.
The LAAC champion annually receives an invitation
to compete in the Masters at Augusta National Golf
Club, the U.S. Open and the British Open. The
champion is also awarded full exemptions into The
Amateur
Championship, the US Amateur Championship and
any other USGA amateur championship for which he
is eligible.
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