PGA TOUR’s TPC Network adds Puerto Rican property

The PGA TOUR’s TPC Network has expanded its international portfolio with the launch of TPC Dorado Beach at Dorado Beach Resort & Club, a beachfront resort and residential community in Puerto Rico. Debuted this month under the TPC banner, TPC Dorado Beach will eventually be home to three Caribbean golf courses: the East Course, West Course and Sugarcane Course.

The property’s recently updated East Course will play host to the 2015 PGA TOUR Latinòamerica Tour Championship, Dec. 3-6, where five players will be awarded status to the Web.com Tour in 2016.

“The PGA TOUR is delighted to further the expansion of the TPC Network brand into the Caribbean with the addition of TPC Dorado Beach, located at a world-class family retreat with a rich, storied history,” said Charlie Zink, PGA TOUR co-chief operating officer. “We look forward to creating memorable experiences for our members and guests for years to come.”

In 1955, renowned golf architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. was called upon by Laurence S. Rockefeller to create the golf resort in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Three years later, the East and West Courses at Dorado Beach Resort & Club opened for play. In 1972, two more courses were added, the Sugarcane and Pineapple.

The par-72 East Course features 7,200 yards of play with new ultra-dwarf Champion bermudagrass greens. In addition to this year’s PGA TOUR Latinoamérica event, the East Course was the original host site of what is now the Charles Schwab Cup Championship and also hosted the World Cup of Golf in 1961 and 1994.

The Sugarcane Course features a back nine surrounded by rivers and lakes. Built in 1972, the par-72 Pineapple Course was designed to be the friendlier course for golfers. Its par-four No. 18 hole features a green set just below the clubhouse terrace. The Pineapple Course will be merged into the West Course, which is currently closed for an enhancement project, to ultimately create a 54-hole resort.

The club is also home to Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, the only Ritz-Carlton Reserve in the western hemisphere and the only Ritz-Carlton Reserve beachfront residences in the world.

The addition of TPC Dorado Beach to the PGA TOUR’s TPC Network comes off the heels of a year in which two additional international properties joined the TPC brand: TPC Cartagena in Colombia and TPC at Baha Mar in the Bahamas. TPC Dorado Beach is now the 34th inclusion to the TPC Network of clubs and the third international property in the portfolio.