World No. 1 Joaquin Niemann Continues Chile’s Dominance

Date:            January 20-23, 2018
Venue:         Price of Wales Country Club, Santiago, Chile
Par:               36-35-71
Length:       6,864 yards
Opened:      1930

Joaquin Niemann of Chile, the No. 1-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking in January 2018, played a blazing stretch of seven holes in seven under par midway through the final round to seize the fourth Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC) at Prince of Wales Country Club.

With his win, the 19-year-old earned an invitation to compete in the 2018 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, as well as full exemptions into The Amateur Championship, U.S. Amateur Championship and any other USGA amateur championship for which he was eligible. In addition, he earned an exemption into the final stages of qualifying for The 147th Open at Carnoustie and the 2018 U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills.

Niemann became the third player from his home country to win the LAAC in four years, and he did it before hundreds of excited fans in his hometown of Santiago. His final round of eight-under-par 63 broke the championship record and helped him finish with an 11-under-par total of 273 for the week as he overcame a one-stroke deficit entering the final round.

Niemann drove the green on the 313-yard, par-4 eighth hole thanks to a fortuitous bounce off a tree, then sank the eagle putt to start his winning run. He reeled off four consecutive birdies on holes 9-12, and after a par on the 13th, he added a two-putt birdie on the par-5 14th.

“After I made that eagle on the eighth hole and I birdied nine, 10, 11 and 12, I didn’t watch the leaderboard until the 14th hole,” said Niemann. “I realized at that moment that I had a huge advantage over the other players, so I thought maybe this was going to be my tournament.”

Chile’s Toto Gana, who defeated Niemann and Alvaro Ortiz in a playoff to win the 2017 championship, and was tied with Niemann at three under to start the final round, closed with a one-over 72 and finished in a tie for seventh place.

Venue Information

Designed in 1930 by club member Alex MacDonald, a British entrepreneur and golf course designer, Prince of Wales Country Club features narrow fairways and bentgrass greens known for their subtle slopes, offering a challenge to players from all over the world who have visited the course. The club has hosted many national and international championships, including the 1998 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship and the Chile Classic on the Web.com Tour from 2012-2014.

Position	Name	NAT	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To Par
1	Joaquin Niemann	CHI	74	64	72	63	273	-11
2	Alvaro Ortiz	MEX	69	70	70	69	278	-6
T3	Jaime Lopez Rivarola	ARG	69	68	73	69	279	-5
T3	Gabriel Morgan Birke	CHI	72	70	69	68	279	-5
T3	Daniel Gurtner	GUA	70	71	69	69	279	-5
6	Camilo Aguado	COL	70	73	68	69	280	-4
T7	Toto Gana	CHI	68	70	72	72	282	-2
T7	Manuel Torres	VEN	71	72	68	71	282	-2
T9	Gustavo Silvero	PAR	73	69	71	70	283	-1
T9	Nicolas Herrera	COL	74	69	72	68	283	-1
T11	Pablo Torres	COL	68	74	70	72	284	E
T11	Jorge Garcia	VEN	71	70	72	71	284	E
T13	Raul Pereda de la Huerta	MEX	73	73	70	69	285	1
T13	Julian Perico	PER	76	74	67	68	285	1
T13	Charlie Bustos	CHI	73	69	74	69	285	1
T13	Carlos Ardila	COL	71	71	70	73	285	1
T17	Mario Carmona	MEX	69	72	70	75	286	2
T17	Aaron Terrazas	MEX	70	72	69	75	286	2
T19	Andy Schonbaum	ARG	71	70	73	73	287	3
T19	Lucas Rosso	CHI	73	70	77	67	287	3
T19	Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira	ARG	75	66	76	70	287	3
22	Claudio Correa	CHI	74	70	74	70	288	4
T23	Mark Montenegro	ARG	68	74	71	76	289	5
T23	Jose Luis Montano	BOL	74	75	68	72	289	5
T23	Luis Fernando Barco	PER	73	73	73	70	289	5
T23	James Yoon	PAR	73	74	71	71	289	5
T27	Alejandro Tosti	ARG	78	69	75	68	290	6
T27	Herik Machado	BRA	76	72	68	74	290	6
T27	Andres Gallegos	ARG	73	69	74	74	290	6
T30	Jose Tomas Vargas	CHI	74	73	73	72	292	8
T30	Juan Jose Guerra	DOM	70	75	73	74	292	8
T30	Luis Ruiz	MEX	72	73	72	75	292	8
T33	Fred Biondi	BRA	74	70	76	73	293	9
T33	Daniel Pico	COL	73	73	74	73	293	9
T33	Horacio Carbonetti	ARG	69	77	72	75	293	9
36	Daniel Kenji Ishii	BRA	76	71	72	75	294	10
T37	Agustin Errazuriz	CHI	70	77	74	75	296	12
T37	Pablo Castellanos	GUA	73	77	76	70	296	12
T37	Luis Gerardo Garza	MEX	76	74	76	70	296	12
40	Rhadames Pena	DOM	69	75	76	77	297	13
41	Paul Chaplet	CRC	74	75	72	77	298	14
42	Kevin O’Connell	ISV	76	73	73	77	299	15
T43	Diego A Ovalle Quiroga	COL	75	74	76	75	300	16
T43	Pedro Nagayama	BRA	78	71	72	79	300	16
T43	Sven Dummer	CHI	73	73	76	78	300	16
T46	Matias Dominguez	CHI	74	73	75	79	301	17
T46	Felipe Strobach	PER	70	76	76	79	301	17
T46	Nicolas Escobar	ECU	77	70	76	78	301	17
T46	Patricio Freundt-Thurne	PER	79	71	80	71	301	17
50	Justin Hastings	CAY	73	75	79	75	302	18
51	Jeronimo Esteve	PUR	70	75	78	80	303	19
52	Daniel Celestino	BRA	74	72	87	85	318	34
MC	Miguel Ordonez	PAN	78	73			151	9
MC	James Johnson	BAR	76	75			151	9
MC	Ivan Camilo Ramirez	COL	75	76			151	9
MC	Alejandro Valenzuela	BOL	72	79			151	9
MC	Alejandro Villavicencio	GUA	74	77			151	9
MC	Eduardo Carrete	MEX	73	78			151	9
MC	Enrique Valverde	DOM	74	77			151	9
MC	Alvaro E. Ortiz	CRC	73	79			152	10
MC	Talin Rajendranath	TRI	72	80			152	10
MC	Payten Wight	CAY	75	77			152	10
MC	Tino Flores	ESA	77	75			152	10
MC	Luis Medina	MEX	78	75			153	11
MC	Rafael Miranda	ECU	74	79			153	11
MC	Tiago Lobo	BRA	75	78			153	11
MC	Rohan Boettcher	BRA	77	76			153	11
MC	Esteban Missura	ECU	78	75			153	11
MC	Nicholas Teuten	URU	81	72			153	11
MC	Richard Gibson Jr.	BAH	78	75			153	11
MC	Gustavo Morantes	VEN	79	75			154	12
MC	Geoffry Schacher	HON	81	73			154	12
MC	Erick Morales	PUR	78	76			154	12
MC	Gaston Bertinotti	ARG	78	76			154	12
MC	Max Alverio	PUR	80	75			155	13
MC	Ezequiel Prieto R	VEN	76	79			155	13
MC	Santiago Zubiate	PER	75	80			155	13
MC	Miguel Reyes Viacava	URU	80	75			155	13
MC	Ernesto Marin	NCA	82	73			155	13
MC	Kevin Ferris	ISV	75	80			155	13
MC	Facundo Alvarez	URU	77	79			156	14
MC	Marcos Aurelio Negrini	BRA	78	78			156	14
MC	Jarryd Dillas	BER	81	76			157	15
MC	Walker Campbell	BER	76	81			157	15
MC	Raul Carbonell	PAN	77	80			157	15
MC	Lucas Moreno	COL	78	79			157	15
MC	Sean Morris	JAM	78	79			157	15
MC	Konrad Brauckmeyer	VEN	78	80			158	16
MC	Sebastian Salazar	ECU	78	81			159	17
MC	Juan Ignacio Basagoitia	CHI	85	74			159	17
MC	Alejandro Restrepo	VEN	82	78			160	18
MC	Ernesto Martinez	VEN	79	82			161	19
MC	Stefan Holczer	VEN	78	83			161	19
MC	Matthew Brewster	ESA	81	81			162	20
MC	Paul Tsavoussis	BAH	80	82			162	20
MC	Julian Jordan	BAR	80	83			163	21
MC	Alberto Menacho	PER	80	83			163	21
MC	Rodrigo Sanchez	DOM	86	79			165	23
MC	Sebastian Patino	PAR	85	80			165	23
MC	Andres Russi	CRC	79	86			165	23
MC	Eugene Edwin	LCA	86	80			166	24
MC	Rodrigo Rodas	GUA	89	80			169	27
MC	Henry Kattan	HON	92	78			170	28
MC	Corey Devaux	LCA	91	84			175	33
MC	Jonathan Newnham	JAM	89	87			176	34