BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Manuel Merizalde of Colombia already had five birdies in eight holes Thursday and rode that to a 6-under 66, giving him a three-way share of the lead after the opening round of the Latin America Amateur Championship.
Patrick Sparks of Peru and Gabriel Palacios of Guatemala also were at 66 on a day of good scoring at Pilar Golf Club. The winner gets an invitation to the Masters and is exempt for the U.S. Open and British Open this year.
Merizalde stands out for his age alone. He is 45, some two decades removed from playing alongside Camilo Villegas in a World Cup and from playing at Brigham Young. And he is far removed from playing golf as regularly as he once did.
“I wasn’t expecting much to tell you the truth. I’m 45 years old already. I don’t get to practice much,” Merizalde said. “But sometimes that helps when you don’t have a lot of expectations, when you’re just going out just to have some fun. The less you try, the better you do.”
He works for a security company in Colombia and takes off Friday afternoons to play golf. Sometimes he’s fortunate enough to play or practice twice a week.
But it worked from him at Pilar, his only big mistake a bogey on the par-5 10th.
Palacios ran off four straight birdies on the back nine, giving the 19-year-old sophomore at Utah a 31 on the back. Sparks had seven birdies and an eagle to atone for a few dropped shots.