Uruguay top Sandals Latin American golf tourney

URUGUAY’s Jorge Bardot, Jose Cabrera, Leonardo Curutchague, and Andres Ellisalde won the ninth annual Sandals Latin American Travel Advisors Golf Tournament by five strokes on Saturday, beating Brazil’s Breno Luz, Ricardo Dantas, Denilson Milan, and Raphael Abreu, scoring 60 over 18 holes in the fun-filled two-day match at the Sandals Upton Estate Golf and Country Club in St Mary.

One of three travel-advisers’ tournaments staged annually by the resort to promote the island as a golfing destination, while giving the resort chain’s sales reps personal experiences of its properties and Jamaica’s varied attractions, the positive spinoffs have led to Sandals staging a World Travel Advisors Golf Tournament set for Emerald Bay, Bahamas, next year.

Arlenes Garcia, director, sales and marketing, Unique Vacations, Latin America, said Jamaica’s strong sporting tradition helps to make the island an easy sell to Latinos.

“The Caribbean, particularly Jamaica, is always popular among Latin American travel advisers, as opposed to other destinations, due to the region’s beautiful beaches and resorts. Where Jamaica is concerned, the sporting tradition is really strong, and that’s how the golf comes in,” Garcia explained,

Meanwhile, the 78-strong Latin American group stayed true to its reputation of friendly rivalry from the golf course to Saturday’s awards ceremony at Sandals’ Ochi Beach Club.

Former national player, Jonathan Newnham, director of golf operations, Sandals Upton Estate Golf and Country Club, described the group as “mainly beginners”, as opposed to the fierce rivalry and standard of play in the United States and Baxter Canadian tournaments.

“They are always the most fun-oriented group, playing music while on the course and enjoying themselves,” said Newnham, noting that 78 players represented 14 countries.

“We do the best job we can of trying to have the travel advisers experience what we have to offer at the golf course, all the properties and our world-famous attractions as well. They can’t sell Jamaica with passion if they have not experienced it,” added Newnham.

The Sandals Foundation’s ‘Drive For The Kids’ initiative on Hole Five raised US$316 towards its Care For Kids programme, which hosts weekend golf and life lessons for children from the neighbouring communities in Upton.

Resident golf pro Bill Williams said the ‘Drive For The Kids’ initiative was well supported by the travel advisers, who paid US$10 and US$20, for one and three shots, respectively, to have the programme’s junior golfers show their strength on the par-five hole.

The tournament followed on the heels of a Jamaica Tourist Board’s Latin American promotional blitz, which tourism minister Edmund Bartlett described as “a campaign to recover the South American market, which has shown a preference for Jamaica”.

Argentina was among the stops at which the JTB held its first major marketing event in Buenos Aires since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted world travel in 2020.