Burrowes, Knibbs to represent JA at LAAC

Jamaica’s junior golfers Justin Burrowes and William Knibbs will tee it up with 108 of the best golfers in the region at the sixth staging of the Latin America Amateur Championship, which will be held January 16 to 19 in Mayakoba, Mexico.

Burrowes and Knibbs received their invitations based on their position in the World Amateur Golf ranking and they will go head-to-head with other golfers from South and Central America, as well as Mexico and the Caribbean.

Each year, the LAAC champion receives an invitation to compete in the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, as well as full exemptions into The Amateur Championship, US Amateur Championship and any other USGA amateur championship for which they are eligible.

Also, the winner and the runner(s)-up are given byes into the final stages of qualifying for The Open and the US Open Championship.

It will be the first time that Knibbs will be teeing it up at the championship. However, the prospects of getting a shot to play at the Masters still brings goosebumps to the young Jamaican.

Anticipation high

“I am looking forward to this tournament, not only because it’s the first time I am going there, but this is the biggest event in Latin America so this is our region’s version of the US Amateur championships, and of course the winner of the event gets a spot in the Masters, so if I could win it that would be awesome. But I’d say my more realistic goals for the week are for me to make the cut and then just finish as high up on the leaderboard as I possibly can,” said Knibbs.

Caribbean Amateur champion Burrowes will be making his second appearance and he is also relishing the opportunity following a nervous showing last year.

“This year’s LAAC in Mayakoba, Mexico, will be my second showing at the event. I feel confident going into it coming off a win at the Jamaica Open, where both my weaknesses and strengths were exposed. I have since worked hard on getting my weaker areas better and keeping tidy on the strengths,” said Burrowes.

“Last year I played pretty well with a solid 68 on the third day but nerves on the last day got the better of me. I feel this year I’ve learned how to manage my game and nerves much better, so I expect a better result.”