Argentinian amateur Valentina Rossi is making her debut this week on the LPGA Tour at the season’s first major, the Chevron Championship. Rossi, one of seven amateurs in the field, received an invitation to the prestigious event after winning the Women’s Amateur Latin America (WALA) in her home country in November of last year.
“Last week was a bit intense. I played a college event, but I was too focused on The Chevron. I could not stop thinking about the course, the practice days,” said the 21-year-old Argentinian about the challenges of The Club at Carlton Woods, the new site of the Chevron Championship in the Woodlands, Texas.
“I am really happy to be here and to have Agostina with me to deal with the anxiety and the environment,” said Rossi referring to her caddie this week: her coach Agostina Parmigiani.
The partnership between Agostina and Valentina started a decade ago in Argentina and intensified in 2020 when the Michigan State University (MSU) junior moved to the Hernan Rey Golf Academy in Orlando --where Parmigiani coaches-- during the height of the COVID pandemic.
“My golf changed completely. It was great to practice and share time with other South American players. It feels like a house and shelter for many Hispanic college players,” said Rossi about her regular sessions at the academy, where she practices and competes with two countrymen and winners of the Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC), Abel Gallegos and Mateo Fernández de Oliveira.
“I was initially in shock, and I had a hard time believing I was going to be playing in those majors and with those players,” said Fernández de Oliveira, whose victory at the LAAC got him an invite to The Masters Tournament, the U.S. Open, and The Open Championship.
After his recent experience at The Masters, Mateo has some advice for his friend Valentina: “We are all human beings, and we are competing with the best golfers for a reason. Trust yourself, play your own game, and just be yourself”.
In a similar way to Fernández de Oliveira, Rossi’s win at the WALA in November automatically qualified her for three majors --The Chevron Championship, the Amundi Evian Championship and the AIG Women’s Open—as well as the Women’s Amateur Championship and the Hilton Grand Vacations ANNIKA Invitational.
“It is a great accomplishment to have back-to-back winners of one of the most prestigious amateur events in the world. Valery Plata and Valentina Rossi have been wonderful representatives of our program,” said MSU Head Coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll about the two winners of the first two editions of the WALA.
Colombian Valery Plata won the first edition of the Latin American event in 2021. It was the second time the two Spartans mirrored each other’s accomplishments. In 2020, Plata reached the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur, and Rossi did the same in 2021.
“I hope she enjoys it and feels part of the field because she deserves to be there,” said Plata, now a rookie on the LPGA Tour, about Rossi’s first major. “She needs to stay very patient because the course is going to test her at every turn. I know her strength is the putting and her game on the green will help her a lot.”
Valery Plata is part of the reserve list for this week (no.6) along with Argentinian Magdalena Simmermacher (no.4), and Puerto Rican María Torres (no.1). In addition to the Argentinian amateur, four other Latin American players made the field: Mexicans Isabela Fierro, María Fassi, and Gaby López, and Ecuadorian Daniela Darquea, who will be playing the first two rounds with Rossi.
“I am very happy to make my debut with another South American player,” said Rossi, who, after playing 18 practice holes on Monday, was finally able to get a good night sleep knowing that she knew the course and was ready for her first major.
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