Tym Glaser, Associate Editor Sport
THE ROYAL and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew's (R&A) director of development, Duncan Weir, touches down in the island today for a four-day visit of the island's golf facilities.
Weir's packed itinerary will include a tour of the courses in Kingston and the north coast and a cocktail reception at the Cable and Wireless National Golf Academy, for which the R&A was a major benefactor.
The highlight of his visit will be held mid-island when he travels to the historic Manchester Golf Club in Mandeville tomorrow.
"We thought it would be a good idea to invite him here to show what we are doing and what is happening with the game here and he readily accepted," Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) president Gordon Hutchinson said of the senior executive from the sport's governing body.
The super courses of White Witch, Cinnamon Hill and Half Moon near Montego Bay and Tryall in Hanover, where he will play a round, are sure to dazzle, but it appears the quirky Manchester course will steal the spotlight.
NATIONAL TREASURE
"The highlight of the programme we have for him will be the Manchester Club, the oldest in the western hemisphere," Hutchinson said.
"It is a national treasure and we have been working with the club to have it designated a protected heritage site.
"In fact, the application is before the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. We are going to have a luncheon at the club to honour Weir and during the lunch there will be presentations from the trust about national heritage sites around the island and the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDC), which will focus specifically on the Manchester club as a heritage tourism destination."
