Mar. 25—One of New Mexico's premier golf tournaments has a new home.
Turtleback Mountain Golf and Resort will serve as the host and title sponsor of the New Mexico Open, Sun Country PGA announced earlier this month.
The partnership between Sun Country PGA and Turtleback Mountain will keep the tournament at the Elephant Butte-based course for the next three years. The New Mexico Open was previously hosted at Rockwind Community Links in Hobbs over the same period, with International Protective Service and Legacy Safety & Consulting serving as the title sponsors.
The tournament is scheduled for Sept. 15 to 17. Turtleback Mountain is also hosting the Wimberly Cup, one of Sun Country PGA's amateur events, in April.
Dan Fletcher, the chief marketing officer for Turtleback Mountain Golf & Resort and PreReal Investments, told the Journal he's excited to showcase the course to in-state and out-of-state golfers this fall after PreReal purchased it in September 2023. Previously known as Sierra del Rio Golf Course, the new par-72 layout stretches 7,216 yards after a year-and-a-half renovation period focused on restoring a "jewel" that fell on hard times into a championship venue.
"Things like making the rough not so penal that it's no fun to play, but rewarding good shots too, right?" Fletcher said Monday. "You have to make good shots, and so it's that risk-reward piece of the puzzle — that's a part of this course. It's good desert golf, high desert golf, and that comes with its own excitement."
"All the holes do something a little bit differently," Sun Country PGA executive director Cory Armstrong told the Journal on Monday. "There's some hilly holes, there's some flat holes. In a lot of places you can't necessarily miss right or left — you don't have a bailout, which is right up the alley of state open championships like the New Mexico Open."
As the title sponsor, Turtleback Mountain is also helping fund a purse expected to swell over $100,000 — the largest in tournament history. Both Armstrong and Fletcher said they're hopeful the increased purse will draw golfers from Texas, Arizona, Colorado and California and from the professional ranks into what's expected to be the largest New Mexico Open in its history.
"We have some sponsors to be named and some exemptions that will attract some players that — if we get who we think we're gonna get — have played on the (PGA Tour), some (Korn Ferry Tour) people and some top amateurs," Fletcher said. " ... We think we're going to have that kind of quality (in the field)."
