2017 Results

Gana Cards Playoff Birdie to Become Chile´s Second LAAC Champion

Date	January 12-15, 2017
Venue	Club de Golf de Panama, Panama
Par	35-35-70
Length	7,142 yards
Opened	1977

Tomas “Toto” Gana, of Chile, captured a dramatic win in the third Latin America Amateur Championship with the tournament’s first-ever playoff. The 19-year-old calmly clinched a birdie putt on the second playoff hole to become the LAAC’s second Chilean champion.

With the victory, Gana earned an invitation to the 2017 Masters Tournament, as well as exemptions into The Amateur Championship (conducted by The R&A) and the U.S. Amateur Championship (conducted by the USGA). He also earned spots in final qualifying for The 146th Open and the 2017 U.S. Open.

Playing in the final group of the day with fellow countryman Joaquin Niemann and Mexico’s Alvaro Ortiz, Gana used a birdie on the par-4 15th hole to open a two-stroke lead over his playing partners.

Gana staggered down the stretch, saving pars with a pair of putts on Nos. 16 and 17 and then bogeying the 18th as Niemann and Ortiz used birdies on the 17th to tie him after 72 holes at one-under-par 279. Gana made a gutsy up-and-down on the first playoff hole to save par and tie his fellow two competitors to extend their head-to-head battle.

On the second playoff hole, the 386-yard, par-4 No. 10, Niemann bunkered his approach and Ortiz found the green, but left himself with a long, difficult putt. Hitting last from 99 yards, Gana used his 52-degree wedge and sent the ball two feet from the hole to set up an easy birdie putt.

“I hit the best shot I’ve hit in my whole life, at the best time,” said Gana, 19, who entered the LAAC at No. 285 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. “I’ve never felt this feeling in my body before.”

Ortiz and Niemann carded a par and bogey, respectively, to finish as joint runners-up. Despite his close call, Niemann was happy for his close friend’s victory.

“I believe he deserves it 100 percent, with all the sacrifice he makes,” said Niemann. “I am very happy for him and I’m waiting for next year so I can have my chance.”

Venue Information

Founded in 1922, Club de Golf de Panama opened its current location in 1977, which is now 15 minutes from Panama City following the construction of a new highway. Jay Riviere and Charles Schaeffer designed the 18-hole course under the watchful eye of club member Carlos Arosemena Lacayo. The Club has been the venue of the Web.com Tour’s Panama Claro Championship since 2004.

2017 Results

POS	PLAYER	COUNTRY	R1	R2	R3	R4	TOTAL	SCORE
1	Toto Gana *	CHI	68	71	69	71	279	-1
T2	Alvaro Ortiz	MEX	71	70	67	71	279	-1
T2	Joaquin Niemann	CHI	72	70	67	71	279	-1
T4	Julian Perico	PER	64	75	72	69	280	E
T4	Alvaro E. Ortiz	CRC	71	66	73	70	280	E
T6	Jose Luis Montano	BOL	67	72	75	69	283	3
T6	Raul Pereda	MEX	69	71	75	68	283	3
T8	Miguel Ordonez	PAN	67	76	68	73	284	4
T8	Nicolas Echavarria	COL	67	72	71	74	284	4
T8	Andres Gallegos	ARG	73	66	75	70	284	4
11	Eithel McGowen	PER	71	69	72	73	285	5
T12	Cristobal del Solar	CHI	70	72	72	72	286	6
T12	Alejandro Tosti	ARG	74	74	70	68	286	6
T14	Mateo Gomez	COL	70	77	71	69	287	7
T14	Matias Dominguez	CHI	70	78	71	68	287	7
T16	Alejandro Villavicencio	GUA	65	73	74	76	288	8
T16	Jesus Dario Montenegro	ARG	72	71	74	71	288	8
T16	Paul Chaplet	CRC	71	75	74	68	288	8
T16	Manuel Torres	VEN	73	68	73	74	288	8
T16	Lucas Rosso	CHI	71	74	74	69	288	8
T16	Matias Lezcano	ARG	72	73	73	70	288	8
T22	Luis Fernando Barco	PER	70	74	74	71	289	9
T22	Carlos Ardila	COL	75	69	75	70	289	9
T24	Gustavo Silvero	PAR	71	73	74	72	290	10
T24	Alejandro Restrepo	VEN	73	76	68	73	290	10
T26	Gustavo Chuang	BRA	69	72	77	73	291	11
T26	Gaston Bertinotti	ARG	68	75	73	75	291	11
T26	Santiago Gomez	COL	68	76	74	73	291	11
T26	Claudio Correa	CHI	75	72	74	70	291	11
T30	Jorge Garcia	VEN	71	76	71	74	292	12
T30	Devaughn Robinson	BAH	74	73	73	72	292	12
T30	Juan Jose Guerra	DOM	73	74	73	72	292	12
T30	Jaime Lopez Rivarola	ARG	74	71	79	68	292	12
34	Rafael Miranda Ponce	ECU	70	77	74	72	293	13
T35	Pablo Andres Torres Hernandez	COL	73	75	75	71	294	14
T35	Sebastian Lopez	COL	75	71	74	74	294	14
37	Gabriel Morgan Birke	CHI	75	73	72	75	295	15
T38	Herik Machado	BRA	71	67	79	79	296	16
T38	Luis Gerardo Garza	MEX	75	69	73	79	296	16
40	Pedro Nagayama	BRA	72	75	77	73	297	17
T41	Talin Rajendranath	TTO	74	72	75	77	298	18
T41	Gustavo Morantes	VEN	71	77	76	74	298	18
T43	Marcos Aurelio Negrini	BRA	72	76	78	73	299	19
T43	Jeronimo Esteve	PUR	68	78	78	75	299	19
T43	Alejandro Valenzuela	BOL	75	74	78	72	299	19
T43	Ian Facey	JAM	75	73	77	74	299	19
47	Jose Andres Miranda	ECU	71	76	77	76	300	20
48	Alejandro Perazzo	VEN	73	76	77	77	303	23
49	Kevin Donegan O’Connell	ISV	73	75	78	79	305	25
50	Max Alverio	PUR	77	69	85	77	308	28
51	Jose Narro	MEX	71	78	84	77	310	30
MC	Juan Miguel Heredia	ECU	75	75
MC	Sebastian Barnoya	GUA	76	74
MC	James Johnson	BAR	76	74
MC	Rohan Boettcher	BRA	76	74
MC	Esteban Missura	ECU	77	73
MC	Liam Bryden	TTO	75	75
MC	Andy Schonbaum	ARG	73	77
MC	Horacio Carbonetti	ARG	74	77
MC	Sebastian Salazar	ECU	74	77
MC	Mike Dunne	PAN	78	73
MC	James Yoon	PAR	69	82
MC	Daniel Kenji Ishii	BRA	72	79
MC	Sachin Kumar	TTO	74	77
MC	Santiago Urrutia	PER	75	77
MC	Fernando Cruz Valle	MEX	73	79
MC	Juan Carlos Serrano	MEX	74	78
MC	Payten Wight	CAY	74	78
MC	Raul Carbonell	PAN	74	79
MC	Daniel Gurtner	GUA	79	74
MC	Ivan Camilo Ramirez	COL	78	75
MC	Walker Campbell	BER	76	77
MC	Jose Guillermo Lewis	PAN	75	79
MC	Enrique Valverde	DOM	75	79
MC	Erick Juan Morales	PUR	80	74
MC	Luis Cargiulo	PAN	72	82
MC	Ernesto Marin	NCA	75	79
MC	Pablo Castellanos	GUA	77	77
MC	Alfredo Ruiz	MEX	76	79
MC	Mario Carmona	MEX	74	81
MC	Alonso Palma	PER	73	82
MC	Geoffry Schacher	HON	79	76
MC	Bobby Moore	ESA	75	80
MC	Daniel Faccini	COL	79	77
MC	Jose Mendez	CRC	77	79
MC	Rodrigo Sol	ESA	76	81
MC	Sergio Roman	ECU	77	80
MC	Nicholas Teuten	URU	79	78
MC	Chicho Vaccaro	PAR	80	77
MC	Michael Wight	CAY	77	80
MC	Jonathan Newnham	JAM	80	78
MC	Jarryd Dillas	BER	80	78
MC	Matthew Marquez	TTO	77	81
MC	Carlos Clement	PAN	78	80
MC	Steven Kemp	BAH	78	83
MC	Henry Kattan	HON	82	80
MC	Andres Russi	CRC	80	82
MC	Jorge Luciano Melendez	GUA	77	85
MC	Trevor Levine	ISV	80	83
MC	Eugene Edwin	LCA	83	81
MC	Scott Stollmeyer	BAR	85	79
MC	Sebastian Smith	CHI	76	89
MC	Facundo Alvarez	URU	83	82
MC	George Scanlon	BOL	82	84
MC	Corey Devaux	LCA	83	87
WD	George Trujillo	VEN	71	70	77
WD	Agustin Tarigo	URU	72
WD	Felipe Strobach	PER	78

* Won on second playoff hole