Who is Renato Naula? All you need to know about the Ecuadorian golfer debuting at the 2024 Mexico Open

Renato Naula is making his PGA Tour debut at the Mexico Open at Vidanta which begins on Thursday, February 22. Naula received a sponsor's exemption to become the first Ecuadorian player to play in a PGA Tour tournament.

Naula was born in Guayaquil in 2003. He began to excel in golf at a very young age and was the silver medalist in the South American Junior Championship at the age of 14.

A year later, he repeated his second place feat in the South American Junior Championship, and in 2020, he was both the top ranked junior and amateur golfer in Ecuador.

In 2021, he received a scholarship to play collegiate golf in the United States at the University of San Francisco. He joined the San Francisco Dons during the 2022-2023 season after winning the South American Amateur Championships, Copa los Andes.

Naula spoke to the Ecuadorian media outlet Expreso in 2021 about the scholarship:

"The pandemic played in my favor, because during the confinement I did the whole process with my brother. I got into doing research analyzing everything. In the United States there are 4 divisions, each one has between 300 and 400 universities, and this [University of San Francisco] is Division I."

"I aimed super high, I prepared a base mailing and sent 80 emails. I contacted several coaches, they followed up with me and in the end I went for this one."

During his freshman season, Renato Naula played 10 rounds with scores of even par or better, carded 74 birdies and two eagles, and posted a 3 under at the NCAA Las Vegas Regional as his personal lowest score of the season.

Renato Naula is scheduled to tee off at 3:05 pm (Eastern Time) grouped with Chan Kim and Hayden Springer.

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Renato Naula on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica

Never before has an Ecuadorian made his debut in a PGA Tour tournament. However, Naula himself has played several times on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, all in his home country.

In 2018, he played in the Quito Open, where he was cut after playing two rounds of 81 and 82. In 2019, he played the Banco del Pacifico Open presented by Quito Alcaldia, where he was also cut, with two rounds of 75 and 76.

In 2020, he played again at the Banco del Pacifico Open and was again cut due to rounds of 76 and 82. In 2022, he played his final Quito Open where he was cut once more, with a score of 77 in the first round and 71 in the second round.