PORTO FELIZ, Brazil—PGA TOUR Latinoamérica’s yearly visit to Brazil is always a special one. It’s a massive country, which in terms of area is the world’s fifth-biggest and in terms of population the sixth-largest. The Tour’s presence in this country is significant, and in battling for the title of its storied national open—the 68th JHSF Brazil Open that begins Thursday—most players coming are challenged by the language.

With the rest of the schedule played in Spanish-speaking countries, even the Latin contingent on Tour struggle to communicate with the locals in their beautiful and mellifluous Portuguese.

“My Portuguese is zero, nothing, nil,” candidly admits Argentina’s Andrés Gallegos. “In fact, it’s super difficult for me to understand my caddie because there are several words that I have no chance of understanding at all. Same thing at the hotel or at restaurants. Communication is down to hand signals and the phone translator for whichever the outcome might be.”

Although Gallegos admits his Portuguese is pretty much awful, his golf language is a different story. His performance across three prior visits to Fazenda Boa Vista, the venue welcoming this event for the fourth consecutive time, has been rock solid.

“The first impression you get is that it’s a very complicated golf course. That happened to me during my first year here, when I had my brother as my caddie. After two days of practice, we thought of it as a very tough course,” recalls the 27-year-old, making his 57th PGA TOUR Latinoamérica career start. “We shot 3-under on the opening day to find ourselves trailing by five. We realized that somehow, we needed more birdies, so we started looking for more aggressive lines, not off the tee, but off the second shot. These greens give you a chance to attack, and if you hit the platform where the pin is located you can get close and give yourself more birdie chances.”

Gallegos figured it out. He followed his opening 68 with a 63. He has shot 65 or lower four times and is at a cumulative 42-under across 12 rounds played here. He tied for ninth in his debut in 2018, came back to improve with a tie for seventh in 2019 and last year tied for ninth again after being solo second through 36 holes on the undulating, par-71 that measures 6,830 yards.

Gallegos missed the cut in his first three starts of the season but has started to pick up his pace. He tied for 23rd two weeks ago, at the Termas de Rio Hondo Invitational, and then tied for 41st last week, at the Roberto De Vicenzo Memorial 100 Years. Entering the JHSF Brazil Open No. 84 in the Totalplay Cup standings, he still has a long way to go in the seven tournaments left to play this season.

This week’s visit to Fazenda Boa Vista might be just what the doctor ordered for the quiet young man from Lobos, Argentina. “Hopefully I can finish higher (this time). Anyway, I’m just going to go out to play, sticking to my game plan and trying to make a lot of birdies and the fewest bogeys possible,” added Gallegos.