Tomás Yelmini
Golf is a sport with a long tradition, but in Latin America, it is just beginning to flourish strongly. Tournaments are multiplying and there are already countless young people who dedicate themselves with their sights set on one day reaching the big circuits, such as the PGA Tour, the European Tour or the new and controversial LIV, which is promoted by the Arabs.
In this context, Chile has a good outlook, with several professionals who honor the best of golf in the region. Cases such as Joaquín Niemann or Mito Pereira, players of great prestige who travel the courts around the world.
JefeBet offers you an overview of the Chilean professional golfers to watch in 2023 and beyond, due to their projection, reality and potential. Here we go!
[the_ad_placement id=”sports-golf”]
Chilean Professional Golfers to Watch in 2023 and Beyond | Top 5
Joaquín Niemann
The best Chilean golfer of the moment, 23-year-old Joaquín Niemann, was No. 1 in the world amateur ranking for 44 weeks between 2017 and 2018. A professional since April 2018, he has had two professional victories (one of them this year, the Genesis Invitational) and represented the country at the Tokyo Olympics.
In 2022, he was also in the news because he left the PGA Tour in exchange for a juicy offer to join the LIV Golf, a circuit that generated some controversy but that is increasingly attracting top-level golfers. Niemann is currently ranked 19th in the world.
Mito Pereira
Born in Santiago de Chile, Mito Pereira has just achieved a brilliant second place in the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament, corresponding to the Japan Golf Tour, from where he got good numbers and sensations, plus a check for 71 thousand dollars. He is 27 years old and has been a professional since 2015.
Prior to his trip to Japan, he finished 18th in the CJ Cup in South Carolina. This year, the most transcendent was his participation in the PGA Championship, where he was on the verge of achieving a historic triumph for his country, but failed on the last hole.
Felipe Aguilar
At the age of 48, he is still active and is one of the best Chilean golfers of all time. He has won more than 30 tournaments in his country and, as a representative of the prestigious European Tour, has won the Indonesia Open in 2008.
In 2014 he celebrated again in the Old Continent: he won The Championship at Laguna National, Singapore, being crowned after scoring an incredible eagle on the 18th hole of the final round.
This second semester of 2022 has been fruitful for the Valdivia-born player, as he obtained a place for the next season of the DP World Tour, and at the beginning of October he won the Las Brisas de Chicureo Open.
Nicolás Geyger
Nicolás Geyger is going through an excellent moment. He has won two tournaments in the last few weeks. First, he won the Prince of Wales Country Club Open, the second tournament of the qualifier for the Chile Classic 2023, after a brilliant final round. He then went on to win the 60th French Sport Golf Open 2022, where he shot a near-perfect final 18 holes.
Geyger surpassed a dozen victories in professionalism, and now he has an even more ambitious goal: the Chile Open at Hacienda Chicureo.
Benjamín Alvarado
In 2001, at the age of 16, he became the youngest player in history to win the Chile Open. He closed the La Dehesa Open with a spectacular round of 64 strokes (-8), product of nine birdies and only one bogey that allowed him to complete a great comeback to win the title of the competition.
This is the second time in his professional career that Alvarado has won the Precordillera Open and adds important points in the ranking for the Astara Chile Classic of the Korn Ferry Tour, to be played next March.
