TULUM, Mexico – Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin was joined by local authorities and sponsors Tuesday to launch the Bupa Championship at Tulum, the event that marks the start of the PGA TOUR Americas’ inaugural season.

“This will be an exciting and important chapter in the history of the PGA TOUR and golf in the Americas,” Baldwin said during a press conference at PGA Riviera Maya at Tulum Country Club. “The Bupa Championship at Tulum will be the first tournament of the inaugural season of PGA TOUR Américas and we are very excited to get started here in Mexico.”

Beginning here and culminating in September with the Fortinet Cup Championship in Toronto, Canada, PGA TOUR Americas will stage 16 tournaments across seven countries, with stops in Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Canada and the United States.

“(PGA TOUR Americas) was an opportunity to create a more efficient system," Baldwin added about the concept behind the new Tour that emerged from the fusion of PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and PGA TOUR Canada. "In the past, both tours (in Latin America and Canada) were operated very differently, and we reorganized everything to give more value to the players, the sponsors, and also the fans who follow the Tour."

Naming the race for the season’s top prize, Fortinet will play a key role in PGA TOUR Americas. Throughout the 16-tournament schedule, players will be battling for the Fortinet Cup and 10 Korn Ferry Tour cards for the 2025 season. The Fortinet Cup was established two years ago on PGA TOUR Canada and with this new tour, it now reaches Latin American soil for the first time.

“At Fortinet, as a worldwide leader in cybersecurity, we are very pleased to expand our partnership with the PGA TOUR by sponsoring PGA TOUR Americas and the season-ending Fortinet Cup Championship,” said Andrés Carrasquilla, senior director, channel marketing, Fortinet Latin America and the Caribbean.

A PGA TOUR partner since 2017, sponsoring the Bupa Challenge series and then the Bupa Match Play tournament on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Bupa is back as the title sponsor of the Bupa Championship at Tulum for the fourth consecutive year.

“We are excited about this new stage on PGA TOUR Americas,” said Yazmín Pérez Barrios, International Commercial Director of Bupa México. “We are committed to promoting health and sports in Mexico and we believe that events such as the Bupa Championship at Tulum make perfect sense to achieve our goal of helping people have longer, healthier and happier lives.”

The Bupa Championship at Tulum would not be what it is today without a course of the caliber that PGA Riviera Maya at Tulum Country Club provides. “This course was an incredible test for the past three years as host of the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Tour Championship. I can't think of a better place to host the first PGA TOUR Americas tournament,” said Baldwin about the outstanding layout that winds through the dense jungle in the Mexican Caribbean.

Open in 2010, the 7,272-yard par-72 designed by Robert Trent Jones II was one of the toughest courses played on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica between 2021 and 2023. Its reputation will grow as one of the most demanding courses on PGA TOUR Americas.

“As PGA Riviera Maya and Tulum Country Club, we are excited to continue being an integral part of the professional golf landscape and to offer an exceptional experience for both players and fans at the 2024 Bupa Championship at Tulum,” said Sergio González, the tournament director at PGA Riviera Maya at Tulum Country Club.

The host venue is partnering with the Mexican Golf Federation and the PGA TOUR to stage the PGA TOUR Americas inaugural event. The tournament field will feature 144 players from 17 countries, including 10 Mexicans among 28 Latin players in action. The first round is scheduled to begin at 6:50 a.m. local time Thursday.