Saint Lucia’s two top golfers, Yadhu Urs and Harith Khan, will look to represent their country well at the 2025 Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC) in Buenos Aires, Argentina from January 16-19.
The 21-year-old Urs, making his fourth championship start and 33-year-old Khan, making his LAAC debut, will be competing with over 100 of the top emerging golfers from 29 International Olympic Committee (IOC)-recognised territories, qualified by way of their placement in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) system.
In 2022, Urs, a graduate student in computer science, created history as the first Saint Lucian to make the cut at this level, finishing 34th and improved on that finish in 2023 when he tied for 19th in Puerto Rico.
In 2024, he was fourth in the Northern Ohio Amateur and started his season for Ohio Dominican University with four top-10 finishes.
He spoke to St. Lucia Times about his expectations heading into the tournament.
“The expectations are high. I try to push myself as much as I can to set achievable goals – but high goals at the same time – and hopefully I can continue with what I’ve done,” he said.
“I don’t want to put a cap on myself. I just want to go out there represent Saint Lucia the best I can, and play the best I possibly can, and focus on every shot and give it the best,” he added.
Urs noted that the timing of LAAC, celebrating its 10th anniversary, is opportune for him, as he is usually at school when tournaments are being played in the Caribbean.
“Given the chance, this is the only tournament I think I’m able to represent,” he pointed out.
“So, I take it very passionately, and I’m excited to represent the country on an international stage,” he added.
Khan won a match play event in Saint Lucia in November 2023 and finished runner-up in the Saint Lucia National Invitational in January 2024 to earn his first WAGR points.
He hopes to represent St. Lucia the same way Julien Alfred did at the Olympics and the St. Lucia Kings did in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
“Julien Alfred did quite well in the Paris Games and brought us the gold and silver medals, something that we have never gotten. And she made that happen,” he said.
“And, of course, Daren [Sammy] and his team for the CPL. So definitely in the golf sector, both Yadhu and I are going to try our very best to try and get us and the flag up to end the year. On a great note, it’s a lot of hard work. It’s dedication. We’re battling the best of the best, but I do have faith that both of us can prevail,” he added.
Founded by the Masters Tournament, The R&A, and the US Golf Association in 2014, LAAC was established to further develop amateur golf in South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
The champion receives an invitation to compete in the 2025 Masters Tournament and exemptions into the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush and the 125th US Open at Oakmont.
The field is led by 15 players inside the top 200 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), including Mexico’s Omar Morales (No. 13), the Cayman Islands’ Justin Hastings (43), Bolivia’s Jose Luis Montaño (48), and Brazil’s Andrey Xavier (53) and Herik Machado (54).