Issa warms up for Caribbean Golf Championships with T&T win
Published:Sunday | April 9, 2023 | 1:03 AMLennox Aldred - Gleaner Writer
JUNIOR GOLFER Mattea Issa was a cut above her counterparts when she recently secured the girls’ 16-18 category at the RBL Junior Golf Open at the Brechin Castle golf course in Trinidad and Tobago.
Issa, who finished second to Emily Mayne in the recent National Trials, shot an overall gross score of 235 over the three days to secure the title. Issa carded rounds of 76, 81 and 78 to beat out Chloe Ajodha, who finished second with her total score of 250.
Third place went to Emily Wyatt who had scores of 87, 95 and 89 for a total of 271.
Issa was pleased to have secured silverware outside of Jamaica in what was described as tough playing conditions in the twin-island republic.
“It is always an honour to represent my country and it was a blast to do that in Trinidad. It was an extremely tricky course with very windy, dry conditions, but I was able to stay calm and bring the win home. Thank you to everyone for supporting me and helping me reach this point,” said Issa.
In the meantime, 18-year-old T&T native Chris Richards Jr continues to impress in his final year as a junior as he captured his fourth consecutive Republic Bank Junior Golf Open Championship overall title.
Richards Jr won the boys’ 16-18 category with a gross score of 222 and was also adjudged overall winner of the annual tourney.
Rounding off the top three finishers, after three consecutive days of competition, were Ross Ramkissoon (232) and Jerseem Boodram (233). Ayden Ali (234) and Zico Correia (236) rounded out the top five, in that order.
President of the Trinidad and Tobago Golf Association, Wayne Baptiste, said the juniors continued to outdo themselves in the competition, which saw international participants from Jamaica, Barbados and St Lucia.
“This tournament is one of the best-run tournaments in T&T for the past five years and we have seen several of the juniors who have participated in this tournament go on to play at a high standard.”
Issa and the rest of the Jamaica squad will continue to have weekly practice sessions in preparation for the Caribbean Amateur Jr Championships in the Cayman Islands in July.