Jaime Lopez Rivarola captures his second APGA Tour victory at APGA at TPC San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (March 5, 2025) – The Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) Tour had its second international winner in the first three events of the 2025 season Wednesday, as Argentine Jaime Lopez Rivarola, a University of Georgia golf product, carded a 4-under-par 68 to win the APGA at TPC San Antonio by two strokes.
A Buenos Aires native who moved to the United States at 18 to play golf at the University of Georgia and resides in Alpharetta, Ga., Rivarola hoisted his second APGA Tour title in as many years. As an APGA rookie last year, he won the 2024 Cisco Black History Month Classic at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
“I feel like this is a great start of what could be a great season,” said Rivarola, who followed up last year’s Cisco Black History Month Classic title by placing third in that event in February. “I feel like, in tough conditions, this is where my best golf comes out. This week was really windy, except for the last nine holes. I feel like I was able to stay very calm throughout.”
Rivarola earned a $7,500 winner’s prize from a $25,000 overall purse and 500 APGA Tour points. The tournament, featuring a field of 46 golfers, was shortened from 36 holes to 18 holes on Wednesday as high winds prompted a postponement of Tuesday’s first round at TPC San Antonio.
Rivarola, 30, carded seven birdies, including a closing birdie on the par-4 , 441-yard 18th hole, and was atop the leaderboard most of the day. He posted three birdies in a stretch of five holes, at Nos. 2, 4 and 6, and then went onto string together three consecutive birdies after making the turn.
“You want to be aggressive, knowing this (round) is your only opportunity. I kind of thought about it being a Monday qualifier and giving it my best on every shot on every hole,” Rivarola said. “The beginning of the back nine was really good. I got it to 5-under. I was playing so solid and in such a good rhythm. The birdie on No. 18 was huge. I had a great drive, and a great second shot and made a great putt to cap it off. At that moment, I thought 4-under wouldn’t be enough.”
Splitting his tournament competition between the APGA and PGA TOUR Americas, Rivarola counts fellow Georgia Bulldogs-turned-PGA TOUR champions Chris Kirk and Brendon Todd among his mentors in golf. He will soon return to Argentina to resume his schedule on PGA TOUR Americas in April.
Growing up in Buenos Aires, Rivarola naturally gravitated toward playing soccer and tennis. But he acquired tendinitis in his ankles at around age 12, which prevented him from being able to run for about six months. That’s when he began following his father to the golf course and taking up the sport. Within a couple years, he was playing golf exclusively.
Two-time reigning APGA Tour Player of the Year Chase Johnson, of West Palm Beach, Fla., placed runner-up at 2-under 70, turning around a front nine in which he shot 1-over with a clean card on the back nine that, like Rivarola, featured three consecutive birdies on Nos. 10-12.
Johnson has finished no worse than second in his first three APGA events of 2025. He lost in a playoff in the APGA Tour’s season-opening Farmers Insurance Invitational at Torrey Pines Golf Course and won last month’s Cisco Black History Month Classic. He retains his lead in the Cisco Cup and Jeff Dailey points standings through three APGA events in 2025.
Among a six-way tie for third place at TPC San Antonio, only Everett Whiten Jr. and local rooting interest Michael Bradham, a resident of San Antonio suburb La Vernia, had a realistic shot at catching Rivarola to force a playoff.
With Rivarola already in the clubhouse, Whiten took a double bogey on No. 18 when he needed a birdie to pull Rivarola into a playoff. Bradham was two shots back of the lead with two holes to play but carded a bogey on the par-4, 319-yard 17th hole.
Said Rivarola: “Relieved. I had to wait about two hours for everyone to be done. It was a long wait. But finally we’re here. It feels nice.”
