00:00In all of Colombia, there are little more than 50 golf clubs.
00:03Only in Florida and United States, there are more than 1.000.
00:05Even so, from our camps, there have been 6 colombianos that have played in the PGA Tour,
00:10the most exclusive league in the world.
00:12Now, how do we get to that?
00:13In our history, we can presume of Camilo Villegas,
00:15the second latinoamerican, along with the Argentino Roberto de Vincenzo,
00:19who has more victories in the PGA Tour.
00:21There are Sebastian Muñoz and Nicolás Echavarría,
00:24both also with victories in this circuit.
00:26Muñoz, also, opened the Colombian road in the Leaf Golf
00:29and in the rama femenina, of course, in the LPGA,
00:32we also have a recorrido with referents like María José Uribe.
00:35But those numbers are not appear in the same way.
00:36At the end of every victory, there are years of silence,
00:39sacrifices and a path that almost never can be seen in the media.
00:42Generally, they only focus until they have a trophy in their hands.
00:45Only the people, when they are in the final line,
00:49when they are in a very high point,
00:52and we have to understand that in the golf,
00:55being in the place where these three players,
00:58at least Camilo Villegas, Nicolás Echavarría
01:00and Juan Sebastián Muñoz, and where Marcelo Rosso,
01:03also in the moment, which is now in the PGA Tour,
01:05is very, very complex.
01:06That work begins very far from the focus
01:08and in a country where there is no attention to this discipline.
01:12Also, in Colombia, there is a big barrier
01:14because the golf is practiced, especially in private environments,
01:17especially in clubs.
01:18Ojo, there are also public scenarios, although escasos.
01:21For example, in Bogotá, there are only four camps of public access.
01:24In addition to that, the only fact of practicing golf
01:27requires considerable investment.
01:29If you want to compete in serious,
01:30a good ball game can run between $10 and $20,000,000,000,
01:34if not that more.
01:35And that's just the beginning.
01:36If you want to compete,
01:38súmule inscriptions,
01:39viajes,
01:40hotels,
01:41implementos,
01:42calle,
01:43equipment,
01:43and maintenance,
01:44and then the thing is already over the six digits.
01:46Now, imagine that you have potential
01:48and have brillado a local level.
01:50Many Colombians take the university route
01:52in the United States,
01:53make a beca,
01:54and depending on how they go,
01:55they go to the professionalism.
01:56If you have lucky,
01:58they go to your project with patrocinadores.
01:59But remember,
02:00being professional,
02:01generally compete without ingresos fijos at the beginning,
02:03without money.
02:04One of the first steps that you have to give
02:06is the PGA Tour Americas,
02:08the third division in the stairs
02:09to the Elite.
02:10Then the Conferry Tour,
02:11and finally,
02:12the PGA Tour.
02:13But a each step,
02:14the cost increase
02:15and the margin of error is reduced.
02:17It's a gira
02:18that if you don't have
02:18between the first 20 players,
02:20to the first two players,
02:21you can't afford to have a lot of money
02:27to have a lot of money
02:27to have a lot of money
02:28to have a lot of money
02:28to have a lot of money
02:28to have a lot of money.
02:28And I think that
02:30the golf is a very ingratable sport.
02:31In reality,
02:32I think that
02:33I think that
02:33the individual sport is very ingratable.
02:35One season in the PGA Tour Americas,
02:37which this year has the barranquillero
02:38Ricardo Pipo Celia
02:39in the field,
02:40can cost between $60,000 and $80,000.
02:43If you don't pass the court
02:44or not high,
02:45the career basically peligra.
02:47It's a place
02:47like in the sport
02:48to say that nobody
02:49remembers the second.
02:50But in the golf,
02:51it feels more intense.
02:52If you take advantage of the weekend,
02:54if the final round
02:54will never come to the Elite.
02:57Sebastian Muñoz,
02:58for example,
02:58was invited to the Stadio Championship
03:00of Bogotá in 2016.
03:02And he won.
03:02That victory
03:03he opened the path
03:04to what came after.
03:05You can work, work, work, work, work,
03:07but if you
03:08the day you get the opportunity
03:09you won't win,
03:10you won't win.
03:12And in this game,
03:13in the golf,
03:13for the amount of money
03:15or the amount of money
03:15that you get in the first,
03:17the first
03:18is almost ready
03:19within the second.
03:21Rogelio González
03:22and Eduardo Herrera
03:22were the pioneros
03:23of the golf in Colombia.
03:24Camilo Villegas
03:25opened the modern road
03:26in the 2000s.
03:27Sebastian Muñoz
03:28and Nicolás Echavarría
03:29later
03:30were also in the Elite.
03:31And in the 2026,
03:32Marcelo Rosso
03:33se unió al club
03:34de los colombianos
03:35en el PGA Tour.
03:36Son seis colombianos
03:37en un deporte
03:37donde llegar
03:38sigue siendo la excepción.
03:40Pero antes
03:40está el Conferry Tour,
03:41donde para algunos
03:42el golf empieza a ser sostenible,
03:44pero para otros
03:45también es donde
03:46termina el sueño.
03:47En la última década,
03:48Colombia ha progresado
03:49como sistema.
03:50Los programas de fomento
03:50y desarrollo
03:51han empezado a dar resultados,
03:53especialmente en las categorías
03:54juveniles y amateur.
03:55En Latinoamérica,
03:56podemos decirlo,
03:58somos líderes,
03:59hemos ganado
04:00los suramericanos,
04:02varios de ellos.
04:04En algunas ocasiones,
04:06los resultados han sido
04:06segundo o tercero,
04:07pero siempre hemos estado ahí
04:08en estos últimos ocho años
04:11que venimos haciendo
04:12todo este desarrollo.
04:13Este dominio regional
04:14hoy ya tiene nombres propios
04:16y resultados concretos
04:17que alimentan la ilusión.
04:18En la rama masculina
04:19aparece el caldense
04:20Tomás Restrepo,
04:21campeón mundial juvenil
04:22el año pasado en Japón.
04:23Mientras que en la femenina,
04:24tenemos a María José Marina,
04:25la mejor golfista
04:26universitaria de 2025
04:27en los Estados Unidos.
04:28Ambos,
04:29en sus categorías,
04:30dieron de qué hablar
04:31la temporada pasada.
04:32El golf en Colombia
04:33sigue siendo un deporte
04:34costoso,
04:34exigente y poco visible.
04:36Hay más de 160 golfistas
04:38en Colombia registrados
04:38con la Federación Colombiana de Golf.
04:40De ellos,
04:41es solo cuatro
04:41que están compitiendo
04:42en la élite.
04:43Echavarría y Rosso
04:44tienen tarjetas
04:44en el PRIGA Tour.
04:46Villegas juega algunos eventos
04:47y Muñoz es uno
04:48de los más destacados
04:49del Leaf Golf en la actualidad.
04:50También en esa ruta
04:51es importante traer
04:52eventos de gran prestigio
04:53al país.
04:53Por lo pronto tenemos
04:54el Astara Championship
04:55que se celebra por estos días
04:56en el Country Club de Bogotá
04:57y es parte del Conferry Tour.
04:59También está
05:00el Interrapidísimo Golf Championship
05:01que se celebra en junio
05:03en el Rincón de Cajicá
05:04y hace parte del Tour Américas.
05:06Hoy,
05:06en el golf colombiano
05:07hay referentes,
05:08procesos,
05:09plataformas
05:10y una nueva generación
05:11que viene pisando fuerte.
05:12Ellos son la prueba
05:13de que se puede,
05:14a pesar de las limitaciones
05:15de nuestro contexto nacional
05:16y regional,
05:17que es posible llegar
05:18a lo más alto.
05:19Si quieres saber más noticias
05:20sobre nuestros golfistas colombianos
05:22y más deportes,
05:23le contamos que El Espectador
05:24lanzó la sede,
05:25un espacio en redes
05:26dedicado al deporte
05:27con entrevistas exclusivas,
05:29datos estadísticos
05:30e historias no muy contadas
05:32sobre el deporte
05:33internacional y colombiano.
05:34También los invitamos
05:35a visitar nuestra página web
05:36www.elespectador.com
05:38y a seguirnos en nuestras redes sociales.
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