Destination: Latin America

Zayra Calderon, CEO of the Duramed FUTURES Tour, traveled to Guadalajara to gibe quite an important news; for the first time in it’s 30 year history, the FUTURES will have an event in Mexico, specifically in Puerto Vallarta.

It will be played at the El Tigre Golf and Country Club situated at Riviera Nayarit; it was designed by Robert von Hagge.

The inaugural Mexico Classic will have 3 rounds (54 holes) and will take place from March 22 to 28. Besides, the Mexican golfer who has the best results will receive an exemption to play at the Morelia tournament, which is part of the official LPGA schedule.

This is specially important since the FUTURES expects that Mexico discover more talent out there because “in a country with a population as big as this one you can always think that it could give more than just one Lorena Ochoa”, said Zayra Calderon at the press conference.

On the other hand, she also talked about the possibility to include golf into the Pan American Games program; 2011 edition will take place in Guadalajara, “a couple of days ago I met with Bernardo de la Garza (head of the CONADE) and Alejandro Ochoa (Lorena’s agent) to discuss the topic, it’s not that easy and it might not be included as an official sport, but maybe we’ll get to put it there as an exhibition one”.

With this, the LPGA and the FUTURES are hoping that Latin America gets more exposure golf-wise due the sport’s inclusion into the 2016 Olympics.

¡Habemus golf!

Just as it was expected, last Friday the IOC approved the inclusion of golf into Rio de Janeiro 2016 program. The news buried other sport’s hopes, such as baseball, softball, squash, karate and others.Golf debuted in Paris 1900 and the last time it was part of the Olympic Games was in St. Louis 1904.

Golf’s comeback isn’t a surprise, the International Golf Federation used as many resources as it had and had the best players in the world to speak on behalf of the sport:

Here’s a time table with the highlights of the process:
11/14/08: Ty Votaw (PGA) and Peter Dawson (R&A) talked with the Olympic Program Committee.

12/22/08: a questionnaire was sent in order to contend for a spot.

02/16/09: the document was sent back to the IOC.

06/15/09: Annika Sörenstam, Colin Montgomerie, among others, talked to the Executive Board of the IOC.

08/13/09: the Board recommends golf for its inclusion into the 2016 Program.

10/09/09: Michelle Wie, Pagraig Harrington and Suzan Pettersen went to Copenhagen to give the last speech. Finally golf got a spot with 63 votes and 2 absences.
The International Golf Federation proposed a format of 72-hole individual stroke play for both men and women. In case of a tie a three-hole playoff is recommended to determine the medal winners.
The Olympic field should include 60 players for each of the men's and women's competition, using the Official World Golf Rankings as a method of determining eligibility. The top-15 world-ranked players would be eligible for the Olympics, regardless of the number of players from a given country. Beyond the top 15, each country will have a maximum of two eligible players.
If this becomes a reality, then at least 30 countries would be represented. Still there’s a doubt in the air: will Tiger, Lorena and other dominant players will continue to play until 2016? Will others, such as Annika might leave retirement? We’ll see, it’s a long ways to go and we can have a few surprises.

Rio de Janeiro and golf?

Today around noon the IOC announced that the venue for the 2016 Olympic Games will be Rio de Janeiro.The question here is: how is this related to golf?, a sport which is basically making its return to the programme after more than 100 years, unless something weird happen next week when the Committee votes (October 9th).

Talking about golf, Rio de Janeiro doesn't have a huge structure or lots of tough course, actually there are only 2 that migh be selected to become venues:

Gávea Golf and Country Club 

It has a par 68 course - 6,000 yards. 

The course was fundated in 1921 and designed byScot Arthur Morgan Davidson. It runs thru the Gávea Stone and the Tijuca National Park. The first 9 holes are player, literally, at the mountain's foot; from 10 to 14 the golfer will found himself next at the sea level and from 15 to 18 the course goes behind some hills.The players must display tremendous skills with the irons, specially on the tee shots.

In 2005, the 5th, par 3, was acknowledge as one of the mos beautiful holes by Golf Illustrated magazine. The lowest round was scored by Gary Player; Tom Watson and Billy Casper have also played this course.

Itanhangá Golf Club

Par 72  -6, 600 yards- and it hosted the  HSBC LPGA Brazil Cup 2009.

It was founded in 1993 and has held the Andes Cup and the Brazil Amateur Open. The greens are small, therefore the precision on the approach is a must. The 18th is considered the toughest hole in Brazil. On the other hand the 5th is particularly demanding, it has a dog leg with a water hazard on the left, which usually compromises the tee shot.Some player who have played this course include Gene Littler, Gary Player, Christina Kim, Kristy McPherson, Catriona Matthew, among others.

So don't be surprised if we start to see or hear that Rio is investing in golf venues, maybe we even have the chance to see some designs from Jack, Tiger o Annika!