The Club Colombia Masters was a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

tournament co-sanctioned by the European

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour, currently titled as the HotelPlanner Tour for sponsorship reasons and also sometimes referred to as the European Challenge Tour, is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European To ...

and the

Tour de las Américas The Tour de las Américas (TLA) was the principal men's professional golf tour throughout Latin America and the Caribbean from 2000 through to 2012 when it was superseded by the PGA Tour Latinoamérica. History Top level tournament golf in Lat ...

and was first played in 2007. The event was held at the Country Club de Bogotá, in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. The tournament was organized by the Corporacion Internacional de Golf, managed by German Calle Jr. and Jorge Muñoz. This was the first golf tournament ever to be sanctioned by the European

. In 2010 it was replaced on the schedule by the Copa Antioquia, held in

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

2007

The first tournament was won by

Edoardo Molinari Edoardo Molinari (born 11 February 1981) is an Italian professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, where he is a three-time winner. He was also the 2005 U.S. Amateur champion; 2009 Challenge Tour Rankings leader; winner, with his brother ...

from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Molinari, the 2005

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

champion, had turned professional the year before and was trying to get onto a tour when he was invited to play in Bogotá. Molinari and Gustavo Mendoza, a local player, entered a sudden-death play-off which was settled on the second extra hole after their fourth round scores left them tied at the top of the leaderboard on five under par (269). For this first professional win Molinari received

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

21,690 and the right to play on the European Challenge Tour, the lower tier of the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

. "This is incredible," Molinari smiled. "It was quite a spectacular week. I'm very happy about this victory, because I worked hard for it during the winter. I'm going to enjoy it."

2008

The second Club Colombia Masters was won by Dutchman Wil Besseling in a seven shot victory with a 16 under par total of 268. Besseling picked up the winner’s cheque for €18,303 which moved him from 41st to sixth place on the European Challenge Tour Rankings. “I started very well and my swing felt good all day,” he said. “I struggled a little yesterday, but today it was really good. I didn’t make any mistakes and it feels great to be the winner. Although I had a lead, I just tried to keep playing one shot at a time,” he added. “The guys made some bogeys behind me and that made the gap even bigger but I just kept playing my own game and it all worked out perfectly. It feels awesome."

2009

The 2009 Colombia Masters was the only tournament of the season co-sanctioned by the European

and the Tour de las Americas. Colombian golfer Camilo Villegas had a 9 hole demonstration on the Tuesday prior to the tournament where he played with his brother Manuel. Large crowds came to the Country Club de Bogota for Villegas only presentation of the year in his home country. Teenager Alan Wagner from Argentina clinched his maiden Challenge Tour title on the final day when the lead changed hands several times. Wagner eventually emerged triumphant after a round of 68 to close on 13 under par. The 19-year-old received a winner’s cheque for US$24,802 and finished at the top of the Challenge Tour Rankings and one shot in front of his nearest challenger Edoardo Molinari of Italy, the 2007 winner.

Winners

Notes

References

External links

Official coverage on the Challenge Tour's official site
{{coord, 4.712127, -74.040384, type:landmark_source:enwiki-googlemaplink, display=title Golf tournaments in Colombia Former Challenge Tour events Tour de las Américas events Recurring sporting events established in 2007 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2009 2007 establishments in Colombia 2009 disestablishments in Colombia