2017 Masters: Four Standout Amateurs Earn Tee Times
Lowest ranked among the amateurs, Toto Gana remains cool under fire.
Toto Gana wasn’t among the top seeds at the 2017 Latin American Amateur Championship. Tp the contrary, he was well down in the field, ranked 285th by the WAGR when he headed for the first tee in Panama City.
Those rankings don’t always tell the story. Gana won. Now he’s ranked 156th, well below Curtis Luck, Brad Dalke, and Toto Gana, with whom he’ll compete for low amateur honors at Augusta National.
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Gana had to fight through a sudden death playoff to claim the Latin American title. Although he held a 2-shot lead in the final round, he bogeyed the 72nd and the Championship almost slipped away from him.
Before it was over Toto had edged out his best friend and frequent playing partner, Joaquin Neiman, by hitting what he described as “the best shot I’ve hit in my whole life.”
Toto is very cool and focused under fire. He took to celebrity quickly and easily, telling Golf Channel’s Nick Menta those on-course cameras that gravitated to him as he took control of the Championship didn’t bother him at all.
"I’ve never played in front of cameras before. They can go around me, in front of me, behind me, I don’t care. I love them."
Depending on how he’s paired at the 2017 Masters, Gana may have an opportunity to enjoy those cameras again, for a much larger, live audience.
The Latin American Amateur Championship, the youngest of the global amateur championships, was created three years ago by a collaboration among the USGA, the R&A, and Augusta National to encourage growth of the game in Latin America.
Gana will carry that implicit if unstated burden with him to the 1st tee at Augusta National.
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These four amateurs face near-insurmountable odds against even making the cut at the 2017 Masters, but they are unquestionably the tip of the lance so far as the future of the game is concerned. I’m going to enjoy their youth and their talent and see who among them collects the low amateur award this year.