Editor's note: This story originally appeared in the Jan. 25 issue of Golfweek.
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LA ROMANA, Dominican Republic — Juan Alvarez hails from Montevideo, Uruguay, the type of hardscrabble city, explains one longtime South American golf observer, “where you wouldn’t want to walk at night.”
Safe to say that Alvarez was the only player in the 107-man starting field at the Latin America Amateur who’d been mugged two days before he arrived in La Romana. A small puffy bruise beneath his left eye served as his reminder.
At Casa de Campo, a pristine resort where the Caribbean Sea sparkles and postcard-picture takers could stage conventions, the only tough thing Alvarez tangled with was Pete Dye’s beautiful, yet bruising, Teeth of the Dog course.