PGA officials planning a tour in South America before the 2016 Olympics
After the induction of golf in the Olympics back in 2009, the officials at PGA have been seriously considering the prospects of landing in South America in order to promote the sport in the continent. The countries of the region have contributed enormously
by producing some of the finest players of the sport but had otherwise received a cold shoulder from the sports regulation authorities.
For the last 18 months, the PGA Tour officials have been working to devise a strategy to formulate a tour which would move on selected courses in South America, Latin America and the Caribbean, something on the likes of Nationwide Tour on PGA. Such a tour,
if finalized, will give a considerable boast to sports' outlook in the region.
"If you look at the top 500 in the world ranking, only 14 players are from South America and eight of those come from Argentina," said Ty Votaw, executive vice president of international affairs for the Olympic committee of PGA Tour. "It's a part of the
world where the development of elite players is something that we see as being an opportunity."
Golf will be coming to Brazil in the 2016 Olympics for the first time ever and the committee which would spearhead the possibilities of a tour is contemplating to launch the same as early as 2012. The modalities concerning the sponsor’s deal, the tournament
purse, as well as the qualifying criteria is yet to be finalized.
Tour De Las Americas (TLA) is probably the only mainstream golf event known in the South America which itself had an unstable history. The tour was designed in 2000 after the successive failures of former events like Caribbean Tour and the South American
Tour. The continent is perhaps the only region in the world which does not have a relevant and stable golf event as the Sunshine Tour of South Africa successfully represents Africa.
The continent, otherwise overwhelmingly dominated by soccer, still managed to produce some of the greats of the sport, including two-time major champion Angel Cabrera, Camilo Villegas from Columbia, Jhonattan Vegas from Venezuela, Carlos Franco of Paraguay
and Argentinean Andres Romero. Cabrera is engaged in the promotion of golf in his country and has also established a training school for the purpose.
"I hope it succeeds," Cabrera said. "We have a lot of strong players on the PGA Tour already, and it would be very good for South America to have this. We could develop some players. It would be good for the young players to give them an opportunity."
The newly formulated tour will not dissolve the TLA but will work alongside it promoting the sport in the region. The officials are contemplating a tour with 12 to 14 events on the calendar.
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