Ja off to good start in junior golf champs

Jamaica is tied for second place with host country The Bahamas on 44 points, this after the opening round of the three-day Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Championship being played at the Albany Golf Club in Nassau.

Defending champion Puerto Rico is currently in first place with 53 points, while The Cayman Islands amassed 27 points to lie fourth. Barbados is next in fifth place with 16 points followed by Trinidad & Tobago, 10, and Turks and Caicos with seven points.

Under-18 player Hannah Foster was the first Jamaican golfer to finish the first round in the Championship, which teed off at 8:30 a.m. Foster posted a creditable 76 or four over par to be in the second position behind Emily Odwin of Barbados, who ended with an even-par 72.

foster recovery

Foster started the course on hole number 10 and bogeyed hole number 13 and 15 and double-bogeyed hole number 18 to be four over par on the back nine. She recovered and had a better front nine where she posted four birdies on holes numbers 2, 5, 7, and 8 but cancelled out the gains with two double bogies on holes number 6 and 9.

Newcomer Katharine Lee had a rough day on the course after posting 32 over par or 104 for day one. She currently lies in eighth place in the U-18 category.

Boys 18 and under defending champion and team captain Justin Burrowes started shakily, bogeying the first two holes and hole number 9 to be three over par on the front nine. At that point, he was tied for sixth with two other golfers, including Jamaican Sebert Walker Jr.

Burrowes roared back with four birdies on holes number 11, 15, 16, and 18, and with just one bogey on hole number 13, closed out the day in joint first with Andres Aranguren of Puerto Rico on even par 72.

Jack Stein, who was tied for third after nine holes, posted an overall score of five over par 77 for fifth place. The other U-18 player, Sebert Walker Jr, ended round one on 79 or seven over par for seventh place.

Sophie Anand of the host country posted the best score of all the golfers on day one. She scored three under par 69 for first place in the Girls 15 and Under category. The Jamaicans did well to be placed second and third, respectively, behind Anand. Emily Mayne posted an even-par 72 while Eryn Blakeley posted 2 over par 74.

Brown tied for fifth

In the Boys 15 and Under category, Jamaica’s Tristan Brown is currently tied for fifth place after scoring 8 over par 80. His scorecard showed three birdies and several bogies and two double bogies.

The other two Under-15 boys, Matthew Grant and age group defending champion Rocco Lopez, were tied for ninth place after posting 83 or 11 over par.

The Boys 11 -13 saw Jamaica’s Aman Dhiman scoring 14 over par 86 to be tied for fourth and Trey Williams tying for ninth after posting 21 over par.

The final age group category, the Girls 11 to 13, showed Jamaica in second and fourth, respectively, with Winni Lau on 15 over par 87 and Mattea Issa on 16 over par 88. Camila Negroni of Puerto Rico leads the group on 11 over par 83.

National Junior coach Jason Lopez said the day was a good one and that he hoped that the team would maintain their good play heading into Thursday, the second day.

“We had an all-round good outing from our team. I would say our under-15 boys were the only ones that underperformed, but we are looking to dig in tomorrow and put in another good team performance.”