Lopez: We will do very well at CAJGC

Coach of Jamaica's team for the Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Championships (CAJGC), Jason Lopez, believes the local players have a glorious chance to top the tournament which will be held at the Caymanas Golf course, July 3-6.

"The preparation has been good. In the past three months we tried to bring together a team. With golf being an individual sport ... it's a challenge when it comes to these events because the kids are so used to playing on their own. We have done a good job in team building. We have a good team and will do very well," he told The Gleaner at the official launch of the CAJGC at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel yesterday.

He added: "We need to give ourselves the best chance. One is home advantage. I was adamant that Caymanas should be the host site. We have some very nice facilities on the north coast but we need to do it in Kingston, where majority of our players come from.

Puerto Rico have won the most (titles) and it is going to be hard to topple them."

The 54-hole Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Championships tees off on Wednesday, July 4 at 8:15 a.m. and will commence each morning at the same time.

Seven other teams will compete alongside the hosts including Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks and Caicos.

Justin Burrowes, Jack Stein, Sebert Walker Jr and Luke Lindo make up the boys Under-18 teams and Tianna Cruz, Kei Harris and Hannah Foster make up the girls Under-18 contingent.

The Under-15 boys include Radino Lobban, Tristan Brown, Michael Lowe and Luke Wright, while the girls' Under-15 team includes Erin Blakely, Justin McKenzie and Evelyn Lai.

Rocco Lopez, Matthew Gant and Aman Dhiman make up the Under-13 boys' team and Emily Mayne, Mattea Issa and Winnie Lau are the members of the Under-13 girls' team.

Lopez pointed that there are some very good players in the squad.

"Emily Mayne, Rocco Lopez, Justin Burrowes, Tristan Brown, Tajay Lobban and Mikey Lowe are all strong players. If we can get the guys to perform we will be formidable. That's my hope and all things being equal it will happen," he added.

Meanwhile, Simone Foote, marketing manager of sponsor BCIC, revealed that they intend to take their relationship with the golf association far beyond the Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf championships

"Our partnership with the Jamaica Golf Association will continue after this event, as our intention is to insure that more youths have the opportunity to participate and learn about the sport.

"We look forward to the continue contributing to the successful exposure and advancement of golf and young players and we hope our input will contribute to the continued development of the sport," she told the gathering..