Harris English wins the OHL Classic at Mayakoba PGA Tour golf tournament

The American Harris English has won the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, the only PGA Tour golf tournament sponsored by and named for a Spanish company, OHL.

The tournament was held at the El Camaleón golf course, which is part of the tourist development of Mayakoba, promoted by OHL Developments, on the Mexican Maya Riviera. It was designed by Greg Norman, who conceived it while thinking of the American major leagues. It has a par of 72 and its 7,067 yards cover three different settings: mangrove forest, tropical jungle and coast, which makes it a unique golf course in the world.

English won the final after four rounds and 263 swings. The 24-year old former star of the University of Georgia finished 21 under par, setting a new record on the El Camaleón golf course. With his victory he won a USD $1,080,000 prize, 500 FedEx Cup points, and direct participation in the Masters at Augusta.

“This is my first time at Mayakoba. It’s a great tournament”, said English. Last June, he won the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Tennessee, his first PGA Tour victory.

Álvaro Quirós and Jordi García Pinto represented Spain at the tournament. Álvaro Quirós finished with 274 swings, while Jordi García Pinto didn’t make the cut in the second round.

OHL, title sponsor

OHL is the only Spanish company that sponsors and gives its name (title sponsor) to a PGA Tour. Other brands on this circuit include companies such as BMW, Accentur, AT&T, FedEx, Coca Cola, HSBC and Deutsche Bank.

It created the tournament and began to sponsor it in 2007, with the name Mayakoba Golf Classic. This year, the PGA Tour went international and OHL, from among several competitors, succeeded in having El Camaleón selected as the first course to host a PGA Tour tournament outside the United States and Canada.

This year, the tournament is beginning a new era with significant changes and achievements with respect to the previous six editions. Its name has now changed to OHL Classic at Mayakoba, and seeking to improve its position on the international circuit, OHL succeeded in getting this tournament an exclusive week on the PGA Tour calendar.

Also, the FedEx points of this tournament have doubled from 250 to 500, and its purse has increased to six million dollars, which puts it among the top-paying PGA Tours and just behind the Majors. The winner received over one million dollars and earned direct participation in the Masters at Augusta.

One of the keys to the revitalization of this tournament is the collaboration of the Mexico Tourism Board (which depends on the Secretariat of Tourism of the Federal Government of Mexico), the Government of the State of Quintana Roo, and the Tourism Trust of the Maya Riviera and Cancun.

All of these achievements have caused the appeal of the tournament to multiply, with nine Major winners this year: Darren Clarke (British Open), Mark Calcavecchia (British Open), Lucas Glover (US Open), Trevor Immelman (Masters), Justin Leonard (British Open), Davis Love III (PGA Championship), David Toms (PGA Championship), Mike Weir (Masters) and Ángel Cabrera, “El Pato” (US Open and Masters).