Play Golf

Helping high-performance players reach their goals in Argentina

The R&A

06 Oct 23

3 mins

The work that Argentina Golf has put into its High Performance programme has seen amateur golf in the country enjoying a spell of success.

Valentina Rossi became Women’s Amateur Latin America (WALA) champion in 2022 and Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira won the Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC) in 2023. The programme helps elite amateur players to fulfil their potential through a focus on academic and technical development. Miguel Leeson is the Executive Director and CEO of Argentina Golf Association. In a recent issue of Developing Golf, our new online magazine providing best practice for affiliated national federations and other bodies, Miguel talks to us about the importance of junior and high-performance players, the Association’s successes, it’s longstanding relationship with The R&A and its plans for the future.

How has The R&A helped Argentina Golf?

ML: “We've had a pretty long relationship with The R&A and, in the old days, the biggest help we got was imitating their structure, the way they work and how they go about things, being more professional and the Rules of Golf. Then The R&A started the programme of developing golf and giving support to some championships regionally. And in education, they got involved in getting very important people coming to give lectures and conferences and helping financially with costs. It was the same in education for coaching, they got involved and started giving financial support and getting the proper people to come. And that was very important. Now we present our development projects and if they get approved, we get some funding. Two projects we’ve worked quite a bit on is Ladies 9, which is a project of nine-hole tournaments for women and agronomic internships and education. For juniors, the Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC) is great to give opportunities to the high-performance kids. That kind of opportunity, giving that kind of competition and that kind of support, is super important.”

Valentina Rossi was WALA champion in 2022 and Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira won the LAAC in 2023 – what part did the high performance programme play in their success?

ML: “I would say those are products of a lot of our work, together with the parents and together with their clubs. Mateo was with us when he was 13 years old. He got selected for the programme that was talking about the Youth Olympic Games that were played in Buenos Aires in 2018. And Valentina is maybe the same, she’s been with us since she was 12 years old. It's not automatic, we started the LAAC in 2015 and we had lots of expectations. We had players that could have won it, but we didn't win for about four or five years. And suddenly, they come in pairs, as has happened this year. “Mateo and Valentina are a product of, obviously other things, but also the planification we've done working for them since they were 12 or 13 years old. They went to college – that's what we try and get the kids to do, saying it's the best way to get there eventually. The kids are part of our work, and we get involved with these high performance kids from a very young age.”

Mateo Fernandez De Oliveira - Post-Round at The 151st Open

What other opportunities are there for junior players in Argentina?

ML: “We've got junior rankings, tournaments and different levels. The biggest tournament is what we call our National Junior, which is all different categories. You’ve got kids that are six, seven years old, playing three holes, four holes. So, you end up with a tournament of two days with 400 players, which is part of something that is more entertainment than competitive.”

What do you think is behind the success of golf in Argentina?

ML: “I think it's a combination of many things. We have a structure of clubs: we have the Federation – the Argentine Golf Association – and in the country we have nine regional federations that are like the Association but in different parts of the country. I would say history is a great part of it, work and dedication and that sort of thing doesn't hurt. The structure of clubs gives an environment where people have easy access to it. “People are very sport-minded here. Football is above everything, then rugby, field hockey mainly for women, basketball is pretty strong and tennis and then golf. Maybe it's not super popular in that we could have more people playing, and we are always thinking about how to get more people to play, but I think we put a lot of work and effort in.”

What are your plans for the future?

ML: “We are always picking The R&A’s brains. We are looking at the golf and health programme, contacting officials and companies. It's very important for us. Our first objective is to keep getting our best players better, because the high performance is important. It gives you more visibility. And the other is keeping all this growth we've had. We've grown almost 19% post-pandemic, so now we’ve got to retain that and try to grow more. I would say our key points going forward are women; getting more players, whether it's adults or juniors; and golf for the disabled, which we started this year.” View the full feature on golf in Argentina in Issue 5 of Developing Golf magazine here. View all issues of Developing Golf magazine here.

All News