A pair of major championship tickets have been punched in Panama.
Mexico’s Santiago De la Fuente shot a 6-under 64 in the final round, the low round of the day, to win the 2024 Latin America Amateur Championship at Santa Maria Golf Club in Panama City by two shots over his fellow countryman Omar Morales (69). With the victory, de la Fuente has earned a spot in both the 2024 Masters at Augusta National and 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon.
In addition to the Masters and Open, de la Fuente has also earned invitations to this summer’s Amateur Championship and the U.S. Amateur. He and Morales are also exempt to the final stage of qualifying for the U.S. Open. De la Fuente finished T-2 one shot behind champion Aaron Jarvis in 2022.
¡Con este putt, Santiago de la Fuente (-10) se consagra como campeón del Latin America Amateur Championship 2024! 🇲🇽🏆
With this putt, Santiago de la Fuente (-10) is the 2024 Latin America Amateur Champion! 🇲🇽🏆 pic.twitter.com/JxS5R6jVS8
— Latin America Amateur Championship (@LAAC_Golf) January 21, 2024
De la Fuente is a senior at the University of Houston and finished T-2 at the Argent Financial Classic earlier this fall. Morales is a junior at UCLA and finished T-1 in October at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate and finished runner-up two weeks later at the Cal Poly Invitational.
Past winners
2024 — Santiago de la Fuente
2023 — Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira
2022 — Aaron Jarvis
2021 — Canceled
2020 — Abel Gallegos
2019 — Alvaro Ortiz
2018 — Joaquín Niemann
2017 — Toto Gana
2016 — Paul Chaplet
2015 — Matias Domínguez
