FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Two current Nova Southeastern University men's golfers, and a former Shark as well, are competing in the second annual Latin America Amateur Championship, scheduled for this Thursday through Sunday in the Dominican.
 
Santiago Gomez (Sr., Armenia, Colombia) and Juan Jose Guerra (Fr., Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) will take part, each having qualified as a top-ranked amateur from their home country as determined by their World Amateur Golf Ranking. It will be the second time for both at the event, with Gomez finishing fifth in last year's inaugural LAAC competition, while Guerra has an added advantage this year of playing on a familiar local course. In addition, Ian Facey, the LAAC 2015 first-round co-leader, will also have his second go-round at the championship after finishing up his four-year career at NSU last spring.
 
The four-day event, held at the par-72, 7,202-yard Teeth of the Dog course in Casa De Campo, Dominican Republic, will consist of 72 holes of stroke play, with a cutline midway through for the top 50 players (plus ties). The eventual winner and runner-up will earn a host of invitations and exemptions. The champion is invited to compete in the 2016 Masters Tournament and earns an exemption into The Amateur Championship as well as into the U.S. Amateur Championship, along with any other USGA amateur championship for which he is eligible. Both the winner and the second-place finisher will advance to the latter stages of qualifying for both The Open Championship 2016 and the 2016 U.S. Open.
 
Live coverage will be found on the ESPN family of networks all throughout the tournament. The first two days will be showcased on ESPN2 from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; Saturday's third round will be on ESPN News from noon-2 p.m., and the final round of stroke play will be this Sunday from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., again on ESPN2. Additionally, more live viewing will be available each day on LAACgolf.com.
 
In all, 108 players will comprise the field, including the defending champion, Chile's Matias Dominguez, and runner-up Alejandro Tosti of Argentina. The WAGR's highest-ranked golfer coming into the tournament is Juan Alvarez of Uruguay, the 36th-ranked amateur in the world.