“He beat all of the gringos."

Bloomberg's Daniel Cancer shares golf lover Hugo Chavez's remarks about Jhonattan Vegas's Bob Hope Classic win.

“A young Venezuelan won a golf tournament in the U.S., we congratulate him,” Chavez said today on state television. “I’m not an enemy of golf, or any sport. I’ve simply criticized that a group of rich people in Caracas have a bunch of golf courses next to slums falling off of hills.”

Vegas, a 26-year old from the oil-producing city of Maturin, became the first Venezuelan to win a PGA Tour event and the first rookie to win the Bob Hope Classic in La Quinta, California, on Jan. 23. Vegas said afterward that he hoped his success would help change the perception of the sport in his country, according to The Associated Press.

“He beat all of the gringos,” Chavez said, adding that he plans to call Vegas to congratulate him in the coming days.