Alejandro Tosti, the talented Argentine golfer who calmed his demons in time and seeks to make the big leap to the PGA Tour

Argentina has three representatives in the PGA Tourthe mecca of world golf beyond the emergence of LIV Invitation struggling to bridge the gap with Saudi petrodollar forces. The oldest is the Chaco veteran Fabiano Gomezwho has played 235 tournaments, with two victories, since his arrival in 2011. The second most experienced is another Chaco native, Emiliano Grillo, who has been on the circuit for eight years, also with two victories, although lately with much more prominence than his compatriot. But now is the time, his name is a 27 year old boy from Rosario Alessandro Tosti and this weekend he is experiencing his best performance on the tour, on which he then played a season as brilliant as it was explosive in Ferry ride to Kornthe category that acts as a quarry for the great circus of fairways and greens.

Tosti is seeking his first PGA title this Sunday after finishing in the top five in the overall standings Houston open. Share the first step of classification with English David SkinnsGerman Stephan Jaegerthe Belgian Thomas Detry and, nothing more and nothing less, the American Scottie Schefflerthe undisputed number one in the world who is preparing for his third coronation of the year after having shone The players It is in the I invite Arnold Palmer. He’s not the favorite, obviously. In fact, the day begins with 12 players separated by just two shots. But why not dream big. The Argentine is very talented.

However, not everyone is a flower for Tosti. The fact is, 2023 was the year she got her ticket to the PGA Tour, but it was also a season of learning. By force.

In August, while I was playing Albertsons Boise open, in Idaho, received a harsh punishment for his misconduct and put at risk everything he had achieved with sticks in hand. The Argentine exploded on the second day while he was waiting for his playing partner to land a blow. Beyond the fact that the situation was handled with the discretion typical of a spy film, they ensure this Tosti went too far with the insults thrown at Kyle Westmoreland. Something unacceptable in the game of a gentleman which led to his expulsion from the tournament and the suspension of his card.

The problem is that that episode marked a recurrence. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There had been, a week earlier, a complaint for insults to his caddy. It was the same tournament where he broke out after poor execution and Not only did he throw the club to the ground, but he kicked it so hard that it crashed into one of the tee markers.. To this we must add the day in which he lashed out at some rivals, whom he insulted from top to bottom because he believed that they did not allow him to advance in time and form in his game. And so the list of transgressions grew until it became something like this ungrateful person for all those who shared tournaments with him.

However, Tosti clicked in time and managed to behave like a gentleman off the pitch. He has already played 11 tournaments this season, with six cuts made and one top ten appearance. And these days he is having his best weekend on the circuit, something he never even dreamed of when he started playing something similar to golf with a stick and a ping pong ball in his native Rosario and bet with his brother to see who would be the first to hit the gap in a grate.

Not even when he began to take him more seriously and dazzled by his talent at Pérez’s Miter club, where he arrived after traveling an hour by bus to go to training. “That kid always dreamed on that trip of having the opportunity to play on the PGA Tour and now it’s a reality. It’s happening, so now I say to myself: have fun and do your best,” he told the PGA Tour’s official website on Friday.

There Tosti defines himself as a player “creative”who likes it “taking risks off the tee”. “I like to visualize a shot, go out there and execute it. It’s the fun part of the game. Since I was little I have always been like this. I grew up on a very short court and you have to move the ball both ways. The same thing happens here, but now the courts are longer”, explains the man who became professional in 2018 and has not stopped growing since then. The following year he won the Latin American PGA Tour and last year he shone, beyond the unjustified and exaggerated tantrums, on the Korn Ferry Tour.

And he’s excited about what’s coming. “I was very sad at the beginning of the year not being able to get mentally involved in the game, not being connected, not getting the results I wanted. But we made a couple of changes this week and they’re working, so we’ll keep it that way.”

Tosti, cook and fix everyone

Tosti loves cooking. He assures that he didn’t do it until he arrived in the United States and had his college experience. However, Its Italian origins have become the genetic sign of gastronomy. “We cook at friends’ houses or everyone comes to your house or goes to a family party. It’s always homemade food. “I grew up with my mother preparing lunch every day and then my father preparing dinner for every meal.”

His favorite food is “baked chicken Milanese, with a good salad or mashed potatoes.” However, over time he has managed to sophisticate his palate and not only does he enjoy cooking Argentine food, but he also experiments with customized Asian dishes. he uses spices to accentuate the flavors. “I like to prepare my own dishes and explore different types of cuisine.”

Tosti also acknowledges that he has another passion besides golf. “I’m not a fanatic. I’m a good player who takes the time to work, but once the work is done, I take off and do a lot of things.” And he reveals that he has two hobbies. One is for cars and another is for repairing gadgets.

“I love cars. I try to tune them and change things myself and learn how to do it. I’m a tinkerer. I like taking things apart and finding out what’s going on, at least trying. My dad is an electrical engineer and I’m I grew up watching a lot of things being taken apart and repaired, so it’s something I’m still learning.

He continues: “The other day I found a blender that was next to a garbage can. I took everything apart and there was only one cut cable. I soldered it and now it works very well.”