Common Backgrounds, Goals For Arkansas Teammates

Day One Leaderboard at Latin America Amateur Championship
T3. Echavarria 🇪🇨 (-3)
T18. Ortiz 🇮🇹 (+1)
T62. Garza 🇮🇹 (+5)

By Ron Driscoll, USGA (Via www.laacgolf.com)

PANAMA CITY, Panama – Nicolas Echavarria and Alvaro Ortiz have a lot in common. They have both been members of the University of Arkansas golf team. Both played for their country in the 2014 and 2016 World Amateur Team Championships. They both have older brothers who are competing professionally. And this week, they are both playing for the third time in the Latin America Amateur Championship.

“Our teammates from college tell us it’s unbelievable that we get to play for a spot in the Masters,” said Echavarria, 22, of Colombia, when asked if the LAAC has fulfilled its purpose since it was announced in 2014. “Without a doubt, the level of play has gotten better around the region. Everyone is practicing harder, everyone has prepared better coming in here, because they know how big this week could be.”

Echavarria graduated from Arkansas last May, after a career that included honorable-mention All-America honors in 2013. He is already in the LAAC record book, having made the first ace in championship history in 2015 at Pilar Golf in Buenos Aires, and he also shares the championship 18-hole mark for a 65 that he shot in the second round at Case de Campo in the Dominican Republic in 2016.

Echavarria led the championship through two rounds last year and finished in a tie for 12th, after finishing tied for 19th in the inaugural championship. One thing that’s almost certain is that this will be his final LAAC. If Echavarria doesn’t win this championship on Sunday, he plans to turn professional and compete on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, where his brother finished ninth on the money list in 2016.

“It’s going to be a little emotional,” said Echavarria, No. 226 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), who was a back-to-back semifinalist in the 2011 and 2012 U.S. Junior Amateurs. “It will be sad to finish my amateur career if I don’t win this week. At the same time, it’s another tournament and you have to prepare the same every time you tee it up.”

Ortiz finished in a tie for third in the inaugural LAAC, and he was disqualified in 2016 for signing an incorrect scorecard. The junior at Arkansas has put that behind him and likes the way he is approaching this week on a course where his older brother, Carlos, won the Panama Claro Championship in 2014, one of three victories for Carlos on the Web.com Tour.

“I’ve practiced the long game the last six months,” said Ortiz, of Mexico, who is No. 250 in the WAGR. “My game from the tee has improved so much. I think my driver is going to be my biggest strength this week and putting has been where I want it, especially the last two months. I’m really excited about this week.”