Founding Ambassador

Jhonattan Vegas & GolfbyKids

The first Venezuelan to win on the PGA Tour learned golf on an oil-camp nine-hole that no longer exists. GolfbyKids builds permanent ones.

Where It Begins

From Maturín to the PGA Tour

Jhonattan Vegas grew up in Maturín, Venezuela, raised at the Morichal oil camp outside the city. He learned golf on a nine-hole course built for oil-company families — the kind of modest, accessible facility that produced one of the most decorated careers in Venezuelan sports history. That course no longer exists. Three Monagas worker nines are gone. GolfbyKids is built to make sure that never happens again.

2011

Bob Hope Classic

First Venezuelan PGA Tour winner. Playoff over Bill Haas and Gary Woodland. Rookie, second start as a member.

2016

RBC Canadian Open

One shot over Dustin Johnson, Martin Laird, and Jon Rahm.

2017

RBC Canadian Open (repeat)

Playoff over Charley Hoffman. First Venezuelan in that fall's Presidents Cup.

2024

3M Open

Ended a seven-year drought on a medical exemption after elbow and shoulder surgeries. Winner status through 2026.

The Connection

Why Jhonattan Vegas and GolfbyKids belong in the same sentence

Jhonattan Vegas

GolfbyKids

Learned on an oil-camp nine-hole. Started with a broomstick around age two.

Accessible short-course / par-3 model. Start kids young. Ninety-minute rounds.

Los Muchachos de Quiriquire: kids packed into a Wagoneer, running their own circuit.

Kid-run weekly tournaments. Competition as the teacher.

Knows what happens when courses are closed as policy. Three Monagas worker nines gone.

A standing junior facility so the game can't be snatched away by a season of politics.

Golf was the escape hatch — visa, degree, family lifted.

Golf used as a life-skills and competency vehicle, not a luxury accessory.

Has said making golf accessible in Latin America is difficult.

A free, kid-run, high-volume model is a specific answer to a problem he has already named.

His Words

On Venezuela, on golf, on access

"Carrying the Venezuelan flag in golf, it means a lot."
— Miami Herald, April 2026

"To not even be able to go to your country, see your old friends… because you put them at high-risk. That is the greatest pain."
— The Independent, 2019

"The more we can be outspoken and make people aware of it, that's the only tool that we have that can hopefully have an impact on shaping our country the right way."
— 2017 Presidents Cup

GolfbyKids Venezuela

American Energy, American Golf, and a Generation of Venezuelan Children

A purpose-built junior golf campus in the eastern Venezuelan oil belt, financed by American energy operators, equipped by Callaway, and fronted by Jhonattan Vegas. The campus would serve a couple of thousand children weekly, ages 5–18, with 800 competing each Saturday in age-division tournaments they run themselves — earning medals bearing the name of the country's first PGA Tour winner. The campus is staffed, maintained, and taught by local Venezuelans, so that the goodwill it creates and the workforce it trains both remain in the country.

American Energy Operators

Chevron and the concession holders fund construction and operations as the goodwill and workforce component of a hundred-year presence.

Callaway Golf

Founding equipment partner: clubs, balls, and junior fitting for every child on the property.

Jhonattan Vegas

Proposed Founding Ambassador and namesake of the campus medals.

GolfbyKids

Operating model, rulebook, tournament system, and the Golf Competency Card, with course design by DMK Golf Design and operations by Troon.

Learn more about GolfbyKids Venezuela

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