By Michael Vlismas
A Mexican professional golfer, who is playing at Parys in the Free State this week in the Vodacom Origins of Golf at the Parys Golf & Country Estate, has fallen in love with South Africa and just loves biltong!
“I think it’s wonderful here. I like the nature, he says. “At one of the tournaments we saw monkeys on the course – that was unreal. I was so impressed by the wildlife. I also love the biltong. And the South African players are super nice to me,” he says.
Luis Carrera is looking to continue his far highly successful debut season on the Sunshine Tour in this week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Series
The 25-year-old Carrera made a spectacular debut when he became the first player in Sunshine Tour history to win the Tour’s Qualifying School and then the first two tournaments of the season in the FBC Zim Open and the Kit Kat Cash & Carry Pro-Am.
He is currently the leader on both the Tour’s Courier Guy Order of Merit and Fortress Rookie of the Year standings. Now he will tee it up in the Sunshine Tour’s most historic series of pro-am tournaments – the Vodacom Origins of Golf. And a bit of research will tell him that this series, which dates back to 2004, has produced champions who have gone on to global success and even Major glory.
But the only reason Carrera is even in Parys this week is because of a plan he and a few Colombian golf friends had.
“I had a couple of friends from Colombia who were going to come to the Sunshine Tour Qualifying School in April this year. We decided on the Sunshine Tour because it gives you something more and you can jump to another level like the HotelPlanner Tour, DP World Tour and even the PGA Tour,. It also has a lot of tournaments so you get into the rhythm of playing the whole year, and the prize money is very good too,” says Carrera.
In the end, his Colombian friends didn’t make it. “So I came alone. I was a bit nervous about that, but it seems to have worked out well.”
Carrera was born and raised in Mexico, and was introduced to the game by his father at the age of three. At the age of 18 he left to play college golf in the United States, and in 2022 won the Canadian Amateur. He turned professional in June 2023, and until recently was self-coached.
Now he’s chasing a third title on the Sunshine Tour and a place in the history of the Vodacom Origins of Golf.
It’s now August and if Carrera continues in this form, he’ll be perfectly placed for when the Sunshine Tour’s co-sanctioned season rolls around with the DP World Tour and HotelPlanner Tour events from the end of this year.
“I’d like to play the whole season on the Sunshine Tour and finish in a good spot so I can hopefully get into the co-sanctioned events. Right now my dream is to play on the DP World Tour and in the Majors.”
St Francis Chronicle 