Waterloo native to compete in Latin PGA tour
For his first time traveling outside the country, Waterloo native Mitchell Gregson has a pretty big trip ahead of him.
The 2006 Waterloo High School graduate recently qualified for the Latin American PGA tour, and will spend the next several months traveling and participating in golf tournaments.
“There will be a series of I think between 15 and 19 events from February through December,” Gregson said. “I’ll get to travel all throughout Central and South America.”
Gregson’s first Latin American stop is in Colombia, where he will participate in the 67° Arturo Calle Colombian Open in Bucaramanga, located a few hours from the nation’s capital of Bogotá.
After the Bucaramanga tournament Feb. 17-23, Gregson will travel through Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic and Panama.
The tournament participants have part of May through most of September off, then the tournament will resume in Bogotá at the end of September.
“I’ll probably play mostly in the United States during those summer months,” he said.
When the tour resumes in late September, Gregson will travel with other participants through Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.
“It’s my first time ever being on the Latin American tour,” Gregson said. “It’s a great way for us to get our foot in the door and move up through the ranks.”
Gregson has been participating in several Midwest events over the past few years, following an exceptional college golfing career at Kansas State University.
His first win as a pro was in May 2011, and he broke records in the summer of 2012 when he won the seventh annual Metropolitan Open at St. Albans in St. Louis.
“This is my fourth professional season, and it should be very interesting both golf-wise and travel-wise,” he said.
Gregson has big goals for this year of competitions, and hopes to win a tournament and excel as a golfer.
“(My) primary goal is to play well enough to promote myself to the next stage,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to it, but I need to brush up on my Spanish.”
