2022 JGA Jamaica Open tees off today at Tryall Golf Club
Published:Saturday | November 12, 2022 | 12:08 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
President of the Jamaica Golf Association, Jodi Munn-Barrow, has predicted that this weekend’s 55th staging of the Jamaica Open Golf Championships will bring out the best in all the participants vying for the 2022 national golf title. The championship tees off today at the Tryall Golf Club in Hanover.
“We have some excellent players coming in along with two of the last three winners in Michael Maguire who won last year, and Patrick Cover from 2019, so I really think we are going to have an exciting event,” Munn-Barrow said.
The championships which is being staged at Tryall Golf Club for the fourth year running has seen an annual rise in the quality of play at the tournament, and according to president Munn-Barrow, this year should be no different.
“Yes, definitely. We had under-par scores last year on a tough Tryall Golf course and I would think that we’re going to get a similar result this year, if not better. The better the competition, the higher the level of play that you would produce,” she added.
The 2022 championships will carry an overall purse of US$100,000 of which US$20,000 will go towards the top senior player. Munn-Barrow believes a couple of players have so far shown that they will be entering the tournament with the “favourite’s tag”.
“Absolutely, I mean, the top prize is US$20,000, so this is a big purse for some of the players. I’m sure all of them will have that prize money on their minds. The past two winners, Cover and Maguire, I think, will be at the top. For the amateur section, I think we will be having a keen battle between Justin Burrowes and William Knibbs, but we also have some amateurs coming from Trinidad and Tobago. We will be having the Trinidad and Tobago Open winner, Ben Martin, so I think we are going to have an exciting amateur section as well,” Munn-Barrow said.
Defending amateur champion Justin Burrowes,who was busy on the golf course fine-tuning preparations ahead of the tournament, said he had taken on a “positive mindset” and this, he hopes, will see him retaining his crown.
“My mindset is just to remain as positive as I can for the entire time and do my best to execute. I’m trying not to complicate things, and keep it as simple as possible. I’m pretty confident,” said Burrowes.