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Justin Hastings was preparing for Saturday’s marathon at the Latin American Amateur Championship.
After all, the 21-year-old San Diego State senior from the Cayman Islands has played in six of those championships, never missing the cut, including his debut as a 14-year-old in 2018, when he became the youngest to not only compete, but make a weekend.
He is now in the record books as a champion.
With ominous weather forecast for Sunday, tournament officials decided to cram the final 36 holes into Saturday. Hastings, who shared the lead with Peru’s Patrick Sparks through two rounds before building a four-shot lead by lunch, held off Sparks for victory at the Pilar Golf Club in Buenos Aires.
Sparks came back to match Hastings with four birdies in five holes before an eagle on the par-5 13th. But a bogey on the par-3 17th dropped Sparks, who had 12 birdies and an eagle to his name on Saturday, to 15 under. Hastings, who shot bookend 72s around 64-65, carded just three bogeys on the final day.
Hastings is the second player from the Cayman Islands, a British territory, to win the LAAC, after 2022 champion Aaron Jarvis, who along with his brother, Andrew, rushed to the 18th green in the near darkness to pour bottles of water on his friend.
The Cayman Islands are now the fourth country to boast multiple LAAC winners, joining Chile (three), Argentina (two) and Mexico (two).
Hastings’ victory earned him exemption from this year’s Masters, US Open, Open Championship, US Amateur and British Amateur.
Pilar was hosting for the first time after hosting the inaugural championship in 2015.
Prior to the breakthrough, Hastings had bettered his LAAC finish every year, including a solo fourth last year. He entered this year’s championship as 52nd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, behind only Mexican Omar Morales (12) and Bolivia’s Jose Luis Montan (49).
Argentina’s Segundo Oliva Pinto, who has remained an amateur since graduating from Arkansas in 2023, tied for third place with countryman Gabriel Palacios and Mexico’s Gerardo Gomez.
