Big news from Buenos Aires this morning that Lima Golf Club in Peru will host the 2026 Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC.) The news was announced in a press conference at the Pilar Golf Club featuring representatives of the founding partners – Niall Farquharson Chairman of The R&A, Fred Ridley of Augusta National and Mike Whan of the USGA.
It will be the first time the LAAC has been hosted by Peru. The country and club had been scheduled to host the LAAC in 2021 but unfortunately the event was cancelled because of the Covid pandemic. Lima Golf Club is delighted to have another chance and to welcome the 11th instalment of the LAAC.
“We are honored to host the Latin America Amateur Championship at historic Lima Golf Club,” said Michael DeBakey, President of the Lima Golf Club. “Our championship venue has proven to be a worthy test for many of the top players in Latin America over the years, and we are excited for the next generation of players to experience all that Lima Golf Club has to offer.”
The tournament will take place from Jan 15-18 2026.
Opened in 1924 and located in the San Isidro district in southern Lima, Lima Golf Club is a parkland-style course surrounded by high-rise buildings, most of which have come in the century since the club’s inception. The venue has hosted the Copa Los Andes seven times, the Pan American Games in 2019 and, most recently, the Women’s Amateur Latin America Championship in 2024. Lima Golf Club is one of the oldest courses in Peru and underwent a redesign by the golf course architecture firm, Mackenzie & Ebert, in 2018.
The 2025 LAAC is being played at the Pilar Golf Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The players have teed off in the first round of the championship. It’s the 10th instalment of the event.
The LAAC champion receives an invitation to compete in the 2025 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club and will automatically qualify for The 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush and, for the third time, will earn a spot in the US Open - the 125th instalment of which will take place at Oakmont Country Club.
The winner also receives full exemptions into The 130th Amateur Championship, the U.S. Amateur Championship and any other USGA amateur championship for which he is eligible.
Runner(s)-up will be exempt into the final stages of qualifying for The 153rd Open and the 125th U.S. Open Championship. The second and third placed finishers will be exempt for The Amateur Championship.
Founded by The R&A, The Masters and The USGA, the LAAC was inaugurated with a view to developing the game of golf in Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Since it was first contested in Buenos Aires in 2015, the 72-hole strokeplay tournament has produced great champions and a number of top players.
Joaquin Niemann of Chile who won the LAAC in 2018 on home soil in Santiago, is perhaps the best-known graduate.
Others to have played in the event include Nico Echavarria, Sebastian Munoz, Mito Pereira and Alvaro Ortiz.
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