The European Challenge Tour will have the honour of joining the celebrations marking the centenary of Argentina’s National Open Championship, the Abierto Visa de la Republica presented by Bridgestone, this week when the cream of the Challenge Tour Membership line-up alongside some of South America’s greatest players in Buenos Aires for what promises to be a true festival of golf.
The tournament will boast a truly top class international field, with 55 Challenge Tour Members joining two of Argentina’s greatest ever players, Angel Cabrera and Eduardo Romero.
Cabrera, winner of The BMW Championship - European Tour’s flagship event – at Wenworth Club in May, is currently ranked Number 16 in the Official World Golf Ranking and finished fifth on The European Tour Order of Merit. The two-time winner of the Argentine Open – in 2001 and 2002 – was scheduled to play in the Target World Challenge but changed his plans to play at The Jockey Club.
Romero, a winner of eight European Tour titles in addition to the Travis Perkins Senior Masters on the European Seniors Tour, is among Argentina’s most revered sportsmen. The 51 year old won the 1989 Argentine Open and has also won six Argentine PGA Championships, the Chile Open and two Mexican Open titles.
Cabrera and Romero will join 53 other Argentine players as well as 15 non Argentine Members of the Tour de Las Americas, 20 qualifiers, six invited players and five Amateurs.
Another star attraction will be Carlos Franco of Paraguay. Franco single-handedly put Paraguay on the golfing map in 1999 when he won twice on the US PGA Tour to finish 11th on the Money List and 18th on the Official World Ranking.
He topped off that remarkable season as the American 'Rookie of the Year' at the age of 34. His victories at the Compaq Classic and the Greater Milwaukee Open proved his considerable pedigree – despite being born and raised in a country with only three golf courses.
With world class competitors like Cabrera, Franco and Romero in the field, the Challenge Tour Members who are lucky enough to qualify to play in the Abierto Visa de la Republica presented by Bridgestone will have the chance to make a lasting impression on what is sure to be a unique and special event.
Among those hoping to do just that will be the Challenge Tour’s Argentinean contingent, which, over the past three years, has grown, matured and produced a handful of players who have gone onto secure their places on The European Tour.
Argentine players who have capitalised on the recent opportunities offered by co-sanctioned events on the Challenge Tour in Central and South America who will be playing at the Jockey Club this week are Ariel Canete, Sebastian Fernandez, Rafael Gomez, Cesar Monasterio, Andres Romero and Daniel Vancsik.
