Top level tournament golf in Latin America has had an unstable history.

Some of the national open championships in the region are long established, but they did not traditionally form a coherent tour.

The next attempt was the IMG promoted South American Tour, which began in 1979 with the existing national opens of the five leading Latin American countries and a circuit prize sponsored by Pierre Cardin.

In 2000, new owners relaunched the tour under the name Tour de las Américas with the aim of creating a schedule which would cover the whole region from Argentina to the Caribbean, and gain broader media exposure.

[4] The first tournament to receive ranking points was 2011 Abierto de Chile.