No golfer from the Cayman Islands had ever enjoyed a year like Justin Hastings did in 2025. In the space of six months he won the Latin America Amateur Championship, teed it up in three major championships, finished as the only amateur to make the cut at the U.S. Open, and then turned professional. Now 23, Justin Hastings is working through his first full season on the Korn Ferry Tour with a PGA Tour card as the long-term goal.
Roots in the Caymans and a record at San Diego State
Born on September 18, 2003, Hastings came through the Caribbean junior ranks early, winning the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships in 2018, and later represented the Cayman Islands at the 2023 Pan American Games, where he finished 11th. He was a regular at the Latin America Amateur Championship from a young age, first playing the event as a 14-year-old.
His college career at San Diego State was historic. According to PGA Tour Americas, he won four college events, including the 2025 Mountain West Championship, was named 2025 Mountain West Golfer of the Year, and finished with a career scoring average of 71.17, the best in program history and narrowly ahead of the 71.50 mark set by Xander Schauffele. He capped his amateur days by going a perfect 4-0 for the International side at the 2025 Arnold Palmer Cup, which the Internationals won.
The Latin America Amateur breakthrough
The door to the majors opened in Argentina. On January 18, 2025, Hastings won the Latin America Amateur Championship at Pilar Golf Club outside Buenos Aires, finishing at 16 under par and edging Peru’s Patrick Sparks by a single stroke. Bad weather forced the final two rounds into one day, and Hastings held on through a tense finish, as reported by the Cayman Compass. The title brought invitations to the Masters, the U.S. Open and The Open Championship.
Justin Hastings at the majors: low amateur at Oakmont
Hastings made his major debut at Augusta National in April 2025, missing the cut. Two months later, at a brutally difficult Oakmont Country Club, he produced the defining week of his amateur career. He was the only amateur in the field to play all four rounds at the U.S. Open, finishing in a tie for 55th and collecting low-amateur honours. He returned home to a hero’s welcome in the Cayman Islands shortly afterwards.
A missed cut at The Open in July closed out his run of majors.
Turning professional
Hastings earned PGA Tour Americas membership by finishing 13th in the 2025 PGA Tour University Ranking and made his professional debut at the Commissionaires Ottawa Open in late July 2025, opening with a 2-under 70. He became the fourth Latin America Amateur champion on that tour at the time, joining Mateo Fernández de Oliveira, Abel Gallegos and Paul Chaplet.
The 2026 season: building momentum
Hastings has spent 2026 on the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour’s primary pathway, and also made a PGA Tour appearance at the Farmers Insurance Open, where rounds of 73 and 70 left him just outside the weekend. His Korn Ferry Tour profile showed six cuts made in 18 starts and two top-25 finishes.
The summer brought his best form. At the Pinnacle Bank Championship in Omaha in August, he climbed from 91st after the opening round to a tie for 12th, posting 70-69-67-65 for a 13-under 271. The Cayman Compass reported that he entered the following week’s Albertsons Boise Open 59th on the points list, where he finished tied for 48th after a quadruple bogey stalled his final-round push. The top 20 on the season-long standings earn PGA Tour cards, and the four-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals begin in October.
Hastings has already given Caymanian golf moments it had never seen before. Whether his first full professional season ends with a push up the standings or serves as a foundation for 2027, the island’s most accomplished golfer has plenty of time on his side.