Blanchet captures Totalplay Cup after stellar season

TULUM, Mexico—Coming into the season finale and, indeed, the last tournament in PGA TOUR Latinoamérica history, Chandler Blanchet knew the only way he could control whether he won the Totalplay Cup was by winning the season-ending Bupa Tour Championship. Anything else, while it might result in a top-five Totalplay Cup finish and a 2024 Korn Ferry Tour card, would leave the Cup in someone else’s hands.

Blanchet will have to find an empty spot in his trophy case for the new piece of hardware he will take home to Florida.

Blanchet, who showed earlier in the season that he has a flair for the dramatic, won for the second time this season, doing so, again, with a little drama attached. Beginning the day tied for third and in third place in the Totalplay Cup standings, only four months removed from holing out from the fairway on the 72nd hole to win the Roberto De Vicenzo Memorial 100 Years in Argentina, Blanchet shot a final-round, 4-under 68 to force a playoff with Justin Doeden and Jeremy Gandon. He then made a par on the third sudden-death hole, giving him the Bupa Tour Championship title.

The victory earned Blanchet 600 points, enough to overtake No. 1 Myles Creighton and No. 2 Walker Lee in the standings and elevate him to the top spot by a healthy 393 points.

It wasn’t all smiles for Blanchet this season. He missed the cut in Chile to end the 2022 portion of the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica schedule and then returned to action in March for the Termas de Rio Hondo Invitational, his next start, where he promptly missed that cut. At the time, he was 23rd in the Totalplay Cup standings. The following week he won the Roberto De Vicenzo Memorial 100 Years, the first of seven consecutive made cuts to end the season. During that stretch, prior to Sunday, he tied for seventh and finished fifth in back-to-back starts in Colombia then added his second title of the year to close the campaign.

“You can’t ask for anything more. It’s been an incredible year, an incredible finish to the season and an incredible finish today. That was a very memorable experience, and I’m very happy I came out on top. It’s incredible,” said an emotional Blanchet following his triumph.

Creighton dropped into second place in the standings as he tried to become the first Canadian to win Player of the Year honors. Creighton tied for 18th at PGA Riviera Maya. Finishing behind Creighton were Lee, Austin Hitt and Charlie Hillier, respectively. All will be conditionally exempt on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour.

“Chandler is a great example of a player who got more and more comfortable in Latin America as his career progressed, and the diligence he’s showed playing on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica really showed this season,” said Todd Rhinehart, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Executive Director. “He has had a taste of the Korn Ferry Tour and had to return to PGA TOUR Latinoamérica after some struggles. To show the dedication to his game on this Tour, where he has admitted he has grown not only as a player but as a person, has been a remarkable thing to watch. He knew what he needed to do this week at our final event of the season, he got the job done and now he’s on his way back to the Korn Ferry Tour. We send our sincere congratulations to him and will enjoy continuing to follow his career.”

Blanchet, a Florida native who played collegiate golf at the University of West Florida, was in his third season playing on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica. At one point during the 2022-23 season, he posted 15 consecutive rounds at par or better, with 14 of those scores under-par.

For Blanchet, a new father as of May, the U.S. $20,000 bonus he earned by winning the Totalplay Cup will come in handy as he prepares for the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour membership and invitations into every open tournament next year. He played previously on the Korn Ferry Tour during the 2020-21 super season and again in 2022. His best performance came at the 2020 Wichita Open, tying for fifth.

Of his newfound exempt status, he said, “That’s awesome. I’ve been out [on the Korn Ferry Tour] three years with conditional status every year, so it will be nice to set a schedule and be good to go.”

Blanchet’s PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Season in Review

Totalplay Cup Final Ranking: 1

Tournaments Played: 11

Cuts Made: 9

Best Finishes: Win, Roberto De Vicenzo Memorial 100 Years

Top-Threes: 2

Top-Fives: 4

Top-10s: 5

Total Rounds: 40

Rounds Under-Par: 30

Rounds Par-or-Better: 33

Rounds in the 60s: 22

Blanchet’s PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Career in Review

Tournaments Played: 28

Cuts Made: 22

Top-10s: 9

Top-25s: 14

Low Round: 61 (2019 Sao Paulo Golf Club Championship

In Blanchet’s Words

About His Season Leading into the Bupa Tour Championship

“It’s been a great year. I won at Ranelagh (Roberto De Vicenzo Invitational), holing out on the last hole. I have that on video, so I watch it quite often, and it brings back some great memories.”

About Becoming a New Father

“I’m also a first-time father. He’s about two months right now. It’s great. I miss him. It’s really different. These last two weeks (before Tulum) have been great because I’ve been home and got to spend a little time with him. Maybe my practice looked a little different, as I was focusing on him.”

On Playing on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica

“I tell everybody to come down to South America, experience it, whether it’s for travel or for golf or whatever it is. I loved it down here. I feel like I’ve grown as a person and as a golfer. You really grow, handling the difficulties you experience, whether it’s food or language. I’ve really enjoyed the travel and the food. Chile is one of my favorite spots. I was able to travel a little down there, to go to the beach and surf and have a great time. But there are so many good spots.”

Best Shot of the Season

“Some people have told me it was the best shot of the entire season by anybody (his hole-out in to win in Argentina). I had an awesome battle with Leandro (Marelli) on the back nine Sunday. I went into that last hole with a one-shot lead, knowing I was probably going to have to make birdie to win. Thankfully, I had a great (yardage) number, and I told Big Tony, my caddie, ‘mi gusta numero.’ I guess I really did like it because it went right in.”

Worst Shot of the Season

“The easiest to remember are the missed putts for bogeys on the 72nd holes, where it knocks you back on the leaderboard. But I do try to forget those.”