Top-five players on Points List will be decided at PGA Riviera Maya, with 2022 Korn Ferry Tour membership awaiting
With its extended 2020-21 season still underway, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica announced Monday it will conclude its schedule of tournaments in Mexico with the Bupa Championship presented by Volvo at PGA Riviera Maya. The 72-hole tournament is set for July 22-25 outside Tulum, Quintana Roo. The Bupa Championship presented by Volvo will bring to an end an extended season that began in March 2020 in Mazatlán, Mexico, at the Estrella del Mar Open. Following the Estrella del Mar Open, the global pandemic forced PGA TOUR Latinoamérica to postpone its season for nine months, restarting in December 2020.
PGA Riviera Maya will serve as the host organization of the season-ending tournament, its first time as site of an official event. Bupa Mexico, an international healthcare company whose purpose is helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives, is serving as title sponsor, while car company Volvo is the presenting sponsor.
“To organize and create a final event in order to graduate a membership class to the Korn Ferry Tour is truly an exciting turn of events in a year-plus that has had so many twists and turns. Our ability to hold this tournament at such a phenomenal course as PGA Riviera Maya, with our long-time and supportive partners Bupa Mexico and Volvo involved, only enhances what we know will be an incredible week,” said Todd Rhinehart, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Executive Director. “The season, which has stretched over 16 months—the longest in Tour history—now culminating at a beautiful and challenging venue is very heartening.”
PGA TOUR Latinoamérica held the sixth tournament of the season last week in Bucaramanga, Colombia, with Sam Stevens capturing the Holcim Colombia Classic by one stroke. This week, the Tour is in Quito, Ecuador, for the Banco del Pacifico Open at Quito Tennis and Golf Club.
“By finishing in Mexico, there will be a certain symmetry to our season after we began the season so long ago, also in Mexico,” Rhinehart continued.
Fernando Lledó, Director General of Bupa Mexico, is pleased the company is again involved with a Tour it has consistently supported.
“Bupa Mexico's relationship with PGA TOUR Latinoamérica continues to be strong, and we are very excited to bring the championship to Mexico for the first time,” Lledó explained. “Golf has proven to be a great avenue to continue to celebrate our purpose that is helping people live longer, healthier, and happier lives and make a better world so we are honored to be with the best of PGA TOUR Latinoamérica as these players look to achieve new heights in their careers.”
“As a longtime partner of PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, we are thrilled to celebrate this tournament here in Mexico,” said Miguel Luz, Marketing and Public Relations Director of Volvo Cars Mexico. “We look forward to participating in another great event on this Tour and seeing the competitors at their best as we conclude together another season.”
“Becoming a host for a PGA TOUR Latinoamérica tournament is such an incredible opportunity, and to be able to have our course as the stage for the final event is very special. We look forward to welcoming PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, its players, partners and fans to Riviera Maya shortly,” said Fernando Padrón, PGA Riviera Maya’s Director of Golf.
PGA Riviera Maya opened in 2010 after a design by Robert Trent Jones II, who integrated the golf course into the Mayan jungle, complete with natural lakes and cenotes, sinkholes that come into being by the collapse of the bedrock below. PGA Riviera Maya, which includes a nine-hole par-3 course, is integrated into Tulum Country Club complex, about 15 miles from the town of Tulum. The club is the PGA of America’s first facility partnership in Latin America to support golfer development and tourism experiences.
Source: PGATOURLA.COM