Santiago De La Fuente

Shed tears of joy moments after closing with back-to-back birdies for a spectacular last day 64 and two-stroke victory over fellow Mexican Omar Morales at the Latin America Amateur Championship in Panama in January.  

“I don’t think there has been a better moment in my life so far,” said the player who had a putt to win at the same event in 2022 but instead three-putted to lose by one to Aaron Jarvis from the Cayman Islands.

“After what happened there, I worked hard and just visualised myself winning.”

The title brought with it not only a trip to Royal Troon, but also invitations to The Masters, US Open, Amateur Championship and US Amateur.

Another near-miss looked on the cards when he trailed Morales by six with 20 holes remaining, but he then drew level on three separate occasions before hitting his tee shot at the short 17th to within two feet of the flag and, with two putts for victory on the final green, rolled in another birdie putt.

They were the two highest-ranked players in the field, De La Fuente entering the week 87th and Morales 72nd.