Tierra del Sol Golf Course is a Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design. (Image: Tierra del Sol Resort and Golf)
Stephen Ames and newly minted PGA Tour member Julian Etulain will captain the Canadian and Latin American sides in the inaugural Aruba Cup.
This winter Canadian snowbirds have even more reason to visit one of the Caribbean’s most popular islands.
Four-time PGA TOUR winner Stephen Ames and PGA TOUR member Julian Etulain will captain teams representing the Mackenzie Tour–PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Latinoamérica in the inaugural Aruba Cup, December 12-18 at Tierra del Sol Golf Course.
Ames, who played on the Mackenzie Tour from 1990 to 1991 and has amassed more than $20 million in career earnings, and Etulain, a three-time PGA TOUR Latinoamérica winner who earned his PGA TOUR card for the 2016-17 season, will lead the teams of 10 players each in the President’s Cup-style match play event.
Aruba Cup captains Stephen Ames and Julian Etulain. (Image: Aruba Cup)
Situated near the lighthouse on Aruba’s desert-like northwest coast, Tierra del Sol is a 6,811-yard emerald oasis in an otherwise stark landscape of giant cactus and divi-divi trees. Architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr. nestled his greens amid the cactus and sun-bleached boulders, while adding marshes as hazards and to provide a sanctuary for local and migrating birds. Herons, egrets and burrowing owls (Aruba’s national bird) are frequent visitors. Far more unnerving are the sizeable lizards seen scurrying across fairways almost constantly buffeted by the prevailing winds.
“We’re thrilled and honoured to be hosting two great champions like Stephen and Julian along with their respective teams at Tierra del Sol,” says Oliver Riding, Director of Golf Operations at Tierra del Sol Resort and Golf.
The teams will be composed of the top 10 available players from each tour’s season-ending Order of Merit, with at least five Canadians on Team Mackenzie Tour and five players from Latin American countries on Team Latinoamérica.
A Vancouver, B.C., resident who hails originally from Trinidad and Tobago and became a Canadian citizen in 2003, Ames counts a victory in 2006 at The Players Championship among the highlights of a professional career that began in 1987. Ames now plays on PGA TOUR Champions.
Etulain, a native of Argentina, captured his first PGA TOUR Latinoamérica win at the 2013 Lexus Peru Open and went on to win twice in 2014 to lead the Order of Merit and capture the Roberto de Vincenzo Award as Player of the Year, earning exempt status on the Web.com Tour, where he finished runner-up twice to earn his PGA TOUR card for 2016-17.
The Aruba Cup will take place December 12-18, with the three competition days featuring Fourball, Foursomes and Singles matches on December 15, 16 and 17.
