The flashes of the cameras blinded the Founding Partners of the Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC): the Masters Tournament, The R&A and the USGA. All of the media wanted that image: three of the most important golf leaders in the world, officially inaugurating an event that established a new era in the sport in Latin America.
CNN, ESPN, Golf Channel Latin America and Fox Sports were some of the TV channels that sent reporters to cover the maiden edition of the LAAC at Pilar Golf, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They were joined by the main media of the many countries who had players representing them on the golf course and did not want to miss the event. They also took part in this media revolution triggered by the maiden championship which had the Chilean Matías Domínguez as the winner and the Argentinean Alejandro Tosti as runner-up. Even the prestigious TV Azteca from Mexico was on-site to deliver the LAAC to one of the countries with the biggest growth rate in golf.
“The LAAC revolutionized golf in Latin America“, “2015 LAAC: an unprecedented event in the region”, “Argentina welcomes the best amateur golf in Latin America”, “The Masters, The R&A and the USGA believe in Latin America”, were some of the headlines that could be read in the main mass media in the region throughout the LAAC week in Argentina.
Furthermore, ESPN offered unprecedented live coverage (a daily two-hour show broadcast to the entire region), and Golf Channel Latin America dedicated two special shows and daily coverage on its news program Diario Golf. CNN also showed the LAAC in an important slot of its programming, where the highlights were individual interviews by the well-known reporter Diego Bustos with Billy Payne, Mike Davis and Wilson Sibbett (ESPN and GCH LA also featured these interviews).
In summary, the media revolution was one of the engines that propelled the 2015 LAAC beyond frontiers, even beyond those in Latin America. In the next edition of this prestigious championship, which will take place on January 14-17, 2016 at Teeth of the Dog, Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic, the organizers’ goal is to double these efforts so that the event, and therefore amateur golf in general, continues to grow its profile within the mass media. Undoubtedly, the benefits granted by this event go beyond the region and the impact is worldwide. This championship grants the winner the opportunity to play in the 2016 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. In addition, the winner and the runner(s)-up will be exempt into The Open Qualifying Series for The 145TH Open at Royal Troon and into sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open Championship at Oakmont Country Club next year. Finally, the champion will receive full exemptions into the The Amateur Championship in 2016, the 2016 U.S. Amateur Championship and any other USGA amateur championship for which he is eligible.
The Surprising Numbers of the 2015 LAAC
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Latin America Amateur Championship surpassed all expectations during its first edition at Pilar Golf, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The golfing world spoke about this event conducted by the three most important golf organizations in the world: The Masters, The R&A and the USGA.
However, in order to measure the magnitude of an event within a context, it’s interesting to review some of the numbers that reflect a world class organization. These are some of the numbers from the 2015 LAAC:
– 350 people arrived in Buenos Aires to take part in the general organization of the championship won by Matías Domínguez.
– 300mbs upload and 300mbs download available through the company that provided Internet at Pilar Golf.
– 28 countries were represented at the 2015 LAAC.
– 109 players competed to win the victory at Pilar Golf, two of them got the most important prizes.
– 20 foreign media travelled to Buenos Aires to cover the event.
– 40 Argentine media registered to cover the 2015 LAAC.
– 7.7 miles of cables were spread throughout the golf course for the live broadcast of the championship.
– 4 players were in the field of the maiden edition of the 2015 LAAC and were top 100 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking: Guillermo Pereira (Chile, 6th); Jorge García (Venezuela, 38th); José Méndez (Costa Rica, 40th); Alejandro Tosti (Argentina, 64th).
– 10 is the maximum number of players per country: Argentina, as host country, was able to register that number of players.
