Texas Tech University Athletics
Tech Signee Wins South American Amateur Championship
January 22, 2016 | Women's Golf
Jan. 23, 2016
Lubbock, Texas-For the second straight year, Texas Tech signee Sofia Garcia claims the South American Amateur Championship Title after a four day 281 (-1) Sunday afternoon."It was a difficult day," said Garcia. "There were three other players playing well. I missed a lot of putts today but made the most important one. This week I tried to have fun because it's difficult to defend a title. So I tried to enjoy the week and it turned out in the best way possible."
Gacia, the 2015 South American Amateur Champion, entered the second round of competition in 23rd place after shooting a 75 in the opening round of play, but rocketed up 18 spots on the leaderboard after a second round 67 to be in third place entering the third round of play at the event. Garcia's second round 67 not only tied for the lowest round score of this year's championship, but was also one of only four round scores below 70 in the entire event.
Garcia began the third round of play with back to back birdies before paring her next four holes. She then picked up her third birdie on seven before en rout to finishing the front nine at -3. Garcia then picked up birdies on every other hole on the back nine before paring the final two holes. She finished with a round score of 68 to fall to six under par at the event.
With the lead in hand heading into the final round of play, Garcia shot a final round score of 71 to claim her second consecutive South American Amateur Championship title. Garcia finished just one stroke ahead of Magdalena Simmermacher, Bronte Law and Lucia Gutierrez who finished in a three way tie for second at six under par.
In its 11th year of play, the South American Championship features some of the best amateur golfers of the world. The 53 competitor event brings together the best amateur golfers from the ten South American countries, as well as United States, Canada, England, Finland, Guatemala, Panama, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales.
The tournament, in just one decade, has become one of the most important amateur competition in the region. This tournament will award points for the World Amateur Golf Ranking and has the support of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (R & A), organization that promotes the development of golf internationally.
Fans can follow all of the action from the final two rounds of play by visiting saamateur.org.
