Santiago Gomez

Exempt status

• Korn Ferry Tour: Finishers 76-100 on Regular Season points list and additional Qualifying Tournament finishers (thru 2020)

JOINED TOUR

• PGA TOUR Latinoamérica: 2017

Personal

• Enjoys performing magic tricks.
• If not a professional golfer, he would be working somewhere in the golf industry.
• Personal motto: "The body achieves what the mind believes."
• Jack Nicklaus is the most famous person he has met, the encounter occurring at the presentation of the 2015 Jack Nicklaus Award ceremony. He won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the Division II Player of the Year.

Special Interests

• Bowling, ping-pong, visiting the beach

CURRENT YEAR HIGHLIGHTS

• Shell Open: Opened with a 5-under 66 at Trump National Doral’s Golden Palm Course in mid-December and added three additional under-par scores, including a final-round 69, to T6 with Drew Nesbitt.

Career Highlights

2020 Season

Played the inaugural LOCALiQ Series, appearing in three tournaments and making one cut. Finished the season tied for 142nd on the points list.

• Shell Open: Opened with a 5-under 66 at Trump National Doral’s Golden Palm Course in mid-December and added three additional under-par scores, including a final-round 69, to T6 with Drew Nesbitt.

2019 Season

Finished the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica year 26th on the Order of Merit, recording three top-10s in 13 tournaments.

• Diners Club Peru Open presentado por Volvo: Began slowly at Los Inkas GC, shooting an even-par 72 in the opening round. Recovered nicely over his final 54 holes, finishing at 16-under to T4 with Russell Budd, Nicolas Echavarria and Justin Suh.
• Bupa Match Play: Lost in the first round at Playa Paraiso GC, falling to Patrick Flavin, 3 and 2.
• 88 Abierto OSDE del Centro presentado por FiberCorp-Telecom: Bounced back incredibly well after an opening-round, 4-over 75. Shot a pair of 65s over his final 54 holes and a third-round 67 to close at 12-under, good for solo third, two shots behind champion Tom Whitney. Was 7-under through 12 holes Sunday, but a bogey at No. 14 hurt his chances as he could only make pars the rest of the way.
• Buenaventura Classic: Finished T10 in the season-opener, tying with Tom Whitney a distant 10 strokes behind winner Jared Wolfe at Buenaventura GC.

2018 Season

In 14 PGA TOUR Latinoamerica starts, missed only one cut and enjoyed three top-10s, including a semifinals appearance in the inaugural Bupa Match Play. Finished 22nd on the Order of Merit.

• 65 JHSF Aberto do Brasil: Had a strong weekend in Brazil, with a 63-67 final 36 holes to move up the leaderboard into a T6 with Gonzalo Rubio, four shots behind winner Marcelo Rozo. Entertained thoughts of winning after making birdies at Nos. 10 and 11, moving to 14-under. But a bogey at No. 14 ended his hopes. An eagle at No. 18 earned him his fourth top-10 of the campaign, and he also kept alive his streak of never missing a cut in 10 PGA TOUR Latinoamerica starts.
• Bupa Match Play: Finished 4-1 in his five matches at the first match-play tournament in PGA TOUR Latinoamerica history. Defeated Juan Pablo Luna, Horacio León, Benjamin Alvardo and Skyler Finnell in his first four matches before dropping a semifinal match to eventual champion Toni Hakula, 1-down, when Hakula made a short par putt to halve the hole.
• Molino Cañuelas Championship: Finished T5 at the rain-shortened in Buenos Aires, for his first top-10 of the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica season. Was tied for 55th through 36 holes but made a 50-spot charge by firing a final-round, 8-under 64 that featured one eagle and six birdies at Cañuelas GC that left him tied with Benjamin Alvarado, Michael Davan, Chris Hickman, Chris Killmer and Andres Romero.
• Campeonato Nacional de Profesionales [COL]: Playing on the Colombian Tour, secured his second career victory only 10 weeks after claiming his first. After grabbing the 54-hole lead at El Rincón de Cajicá, thanks to a third-round, 6-under 66, posted a 68 on the final day to finish at 12-under 276 for a two-stroke victory over Marcelo Rozo in Bogota in February.

2017 Season

Competing as an amateur, earned PGA TOUR Latinoamérica conditional status with a T22 finish at Q-School in Colombia. Turned pro and went on to make the cut in nine of 15 starts, collecting one top-10 and four other top-25s to finish the year ranked 54th on the Order of Merit.

• 40th Abierto del Caribe [DevSer]: Closed the year by claiming his first professional win, at a Dev Series event in Barranquilla, Colombia. Finished birdie-birdie-birdie to get to 4-over 288 and secure the title by one shot over Pipo Celia.
• 70 Avianca Colombia Open: Finished T4 at the season opening tournament, an event that saw him hold the 36-hole lead while making his professional debut at Guaymaral CC in Bogota.
• PTLA Qualifying Tournament-Colombia: Competing as an amateur, he earned conditional status on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica by finishing T22 at the Colombia Q-School in January.

Amateur Highlights

• Made his PGA TOUR Latinoamérica debut, missing the cut at the 2016 Colombia Classic.
• Played college golf at Nova Southeastern University, where he earned the Jack Nicklaus Award as the 2015 NCAA Division II Player of the Year. In 2015 was also a first-team All-American and helped his school win the NCAA Championship.