Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport
Members of the Jamaica CAGC squad pose before doing their final tour of the Caymanas Golf and Country Club course yesterday. They are from left (back row): team manager Lincoln Williams, George Hugh, Michael Scott, Radcliff Knibbs, Owen Samuda, Carl Bruce, Dennis Atkinson and assistant manager Orville Marshall. Middle row: Tiffany Terrier, Maggie Lyn and Jodi Barrow. Front (kneeling): Damion Spencer, team captain John Smith and Fabian Campbell. Absent were Ossie Lee and Keith Stein. -
Junior Dowie / Staff Photographer
THE 50TH CARIBBEAN Amateur Golf Championships (CAGC) tee off today at the Caymanas Golf and Country Club in St. Catherine, with the hosts seeking overdue regional glory.
First tee time today, in the 10-team competition which also includes regional powerhouse Puerto Rico, defending Hoerman Cup champions Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands , the U.S. Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, Cayman Islands and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), is 7:00 a.m.
No major silverware since '01
Jamaica have not claimed any major silverware since 2001 when they shared the super seniors Higgs and Higgs Trophy with Puerto Rico, and have not won the coveted men's Hoerman Cup title since the event was last hosted at the same venue in 1996.
However, team manager Lincoln Williams believes that with home course advantage and a solid preparation, this could be the year Jamaica reassert themselves as a regional force.
There have been bumps along the way including the late change of venue from Cinnamon Hill in St. James to Caymanas and selection team debates, but Williams said that was put behind them early
and it was now full steam ahead with the Hoerman Cuppers at the vanguard.
Priority
"I am looking for them to bring home the Hoerman Cup on Saturday evening - that's the priority," Williams said before the squad's last cruise around the par-72 course yesterday.
"I don't know how the other teams are playing but I know against this course that our team has an excellent chance. Everyone of them can go sub-par. Owen Samuda has been abroad but I know he has been practising and getting his game sharp; Radcliff Knibbs just last week was shooting 65, 68," he said.
"Fabian Campbell has been the most impressive. Just a couple of weeks ago he won the Mandeville tournament - he's our number one player and he is in fine form. Damion Spencer and Michael Scott are also doing well."
While there is an overall trophy for the best performed country named in honour of long-time Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) president Arthur Ziadie, the Hoerman Cup, which kindled regional golf with a clash between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in 1957, is the main prize.
However, it's not the only one Williams believes his charges can claim.
"Then there's the ladies, I really do think they can bring it (George Teale Trophy) home as well. Jodi (Barrow) came second last year in St. Kitts, Maggie Lyn is playing very well and Tiffany Terrier is feeling very confident.
"What I would like to see from Tiffany now is for her to step up from the juniors and show she's ready for the big girls," he said of the promising teenager.
"After that we have a very strong mid-amateurs (over-35) Ramon Baez Trophy team. Keith Stein is an exceptional player; he hasn't been able to train with the team much because he works in MoBay but he came down last week and played a round with partner Carl Bruce and they really meshed well together. Of all the players, in terms of preparing themselves, Carl is the most prepared. He is a surgeon and they have to pay attention to detail and he's done exactly that."
While the men's and women's sections are strokeplay, the mid-amateur, senior and super senior pairs play better ball. In the latter two categories, Jamaica's hopes will rest primarily on CAGC veterans John Smith and Dennis Atkinson.
"John is the captain of the team and he has the respect of everybody in the squad. He was Jamaica's best player for decades and both he and Dennis know the responsibilities they have. I expect them to anchor those teams," Williams said.
Smith will be partnered by Cup rookie George Hugh in the Francis and Steele-Perkins Trophy senior section while Atkinson will pair with another former JGA president, Ossie Lee - who was not at the course yesterday due to illness - in the Higgs and Higgs Trophy competition. If Lee is unable to play, he will be replaced by reserve Herman McDonald.
"The whole team is prepared," Williams said. "If we don't do well this time around it won't be for lack of preparation. The rest is up to them now and if they play up to the standard we know they can play at, then we will do very well."
