PGA TOUR should elevate VISA Argentina Open to replace Palm Beach Gardens event

Select group of National Opens around the world should be part of the future PGA TOUR

The Jockey Club hosts the Argentina Open for the 20th time / Korn Ferry Tour

Mungo Park / Image: Mungo Park IV - Through the green Magazine © Mungo Park, March 2008

This week the Korn Ferry Tour are in Buenos Aires to play in the 119th edition of the Open de Argentina, the event known as the VISA Argentina Open for sponsorship reasons is one of the oldest and most-played tournaments in all of golf. In fact, only The Open and US Open have been contested on more occasions than this event.

For the vast majority of its history the Open de Argentina has been an event on the South American Tours including the Tour de Las Americas through 2011, and the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica through 2022 before elevation to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024. The winners of the Argentina Open cover the entire history of championship golf, with the first champion being born in Musselburgh in 1877.

Mungo Park Jr. was a pioneer in South American golf and golf club making. Park was also a successful golfer and golf course architect. He won the Argentine Open three times, including the inaugural championship in 1905. He was part of the famous Park family from Musselburgh that won a total seven Open Championships in the 19th century.

1946 US Open Champion Lloyd Mangrum also won the Argentina Open in the same year, with 2-time PGA Champion Paul Runyan, and 24-time PGA TOUR winner Henry Picard won the tournament in the 1930's before Argentina's big three of Roberto De Vicenzo, Vicente Fernandez and Florentino Molina took over, winning 21 times between 1944 and 1990.

The Championship enjoyed a renaissance in the early 1990's with several prominent Americans including Craig Stadler, Mark Calcavecchia, Mark O'Meara and Jim Furyk winning the title, and competing regularly. Sergio Garcia, in his last year as an amateur, finished as runner-up in 1998, and Ian Woosnam also came second in the 1999 edition of the championship.

2001 saw the Argentina Open feature for the only time on a Major tour - the 2001 European Tour. Angel Cabrera won the tournament, his first of two back to back, conquering a field which included 17 of the world's top 300 players. Among the field was future Open Champion Henrik Stenson, future Masters and US Open Champion Angel Cabrera, and future Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts. Since the events status on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and Korn Ferry Tour will forever restrict top players from playing, the Argentina Open will never reach the undoubted potential it has in the sport.

More than 30 of the world's top 100 are playing in the Cognizant Classic, as well as 5-time Major Champion Brooks Koepka, which for the Cognizant Classic is a disappointment, but for the Argentina Open would be enormous. Argentina is a country with a population of some 47 million people, with 157,000 playing golf - by far the highest number in South and Central America. VISA has been the title sponsor of the Argentina Open since 2003, and there can be little doubt that if the VISA Open de Argentina attracted a similar strength of field that the Cognizant Classic has, then they would invest in the event to the same level, giving South America a $9million tournament.

Instead, the VISA Open de Argentina is a $1million event on the Korn Ferry Tour, with no hope at all of any of the world's leading players ever participating, until changes are made.

If the Cognizant Classic and other events of its ilk are going to disappear from the future PGA TOUR schedule, why not elevate a select group of National Opens to the PGA TOUR calendar? Buenos Aires is 3 hours behind GMT, 2 hours ahead of US Eastern time, so the VISA Argentina Open would be able to be broadcast in a similar time frame to the standard PGA TOUR events on NBC and CBS.

The PGA TOUR schedule already has, and it is fair to assume, will continue to have the RBC Canadian Open and Genesis Scottish Open, and there could be room for others. It depends on how the schedule is built, and when it begins and ends, and how the 'post-season' is restructured, but if the PGA TOUR was to think outside the box it could include the Crown Australian Open, FedEx Open de France, Amgen Irish Open and Hero Indian Open, as well as the VISA Argentina Open.

This is the 20th occasion that the Jockey Club will have hosted the Argentina Open, and having another Alister Mackenzie-designed course on the PGA TOUR schedule would sure beat the utter dross we have seen thus far on the calendar, and will see following TPC Sawgrass.

The 119th edition of the VISA Argentina Open is currently midway through round two at the iconic Jockey Club in Buenos Aires, and there is a three-way tie for the lead featuring Alistair Docherty, Shad Tuten and Chris Korte. Ryo Ishikawa is playing on the Korn Ferry Tour this season after failing to return to the PGA TOUR via Qualifying School last year, and the Japanese superstar posted a round of 66 on Friday to sit four shots off the lead. Past PGA TOUR winners Luke List and Cameron Champ are tied with Ishikawa on 7-under-par. Scotland's Sandy Scott will be looking to emulate Mungo Park by winning in Buenos Aires, and the 27-year-old from Inverness is 6-under-par heading into the weekend.

The leading Argentinian golfer is Segundo Oliva Pinto, the 26-year-old amateur is also 6-under-par for the championship.

The winner of the 119th VISA Argentina Open will qualify for The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

SHANK, by Matt Hooper