Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport
Maggie Lyn lines up a shot in first day action at the Caribbean Amatuer Golf Championships at the Caymanas Golf and Country Club yesterday. - Junior Dowie / Staff Photographer
JAMAICA CELEBRATED the opening day of the 50th Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships (CAGC) in grand style yesterday by claiming the lead in two of the five sections at a windswept Caymanas Golf and Country Club course.
On a day in which no player went under the par score of 72, the Jamaicans, obviously more accustomed to the home conditions, played steadily if unspectacularly, and boasted a share of the lead in the prestigious men's Hoerman Cup competition with Puerto Rico and the outright lead in the women's George Teale Trophy.
Michael 'Bones' Scott (74), Owen Samuda (75), Damion Spencer (75) and Fabian Campbell (76) carded the scores which counted for the hosts as they amassed a gross of 300 - the same as the Puerto Ricans and three better than the Dominican Republic and a young Trinidad and Tobago side.
"We set ourselves the goal of not shooting more than 300 any day so we are reasonably happy with what we did today," Scott, whose round included three birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey at the treacherous par-four 14th, said.
"We will be looking to lower that mark to 295 tomorrow," he said.
The Jamaica strategy of sending out the experienced Samuda and Scott early to beat the afternoon winds and post low scores paid off - to a degree.
"The wind just came earlier than we expected and hit me on four where I double bogeyed," said Samuda, whose trip around the course included four birdies, five bogeys and a double.
Interesting round
The most interesting round came from Spencer who rode a roller coaster to his three-over 75 which featured five birdies, three bogeys, a double and a triple when his ball found the water at the par-four ninth.
Campbell's four-over 76 was nowhere near his best but he was battling a stomach ailment from early in his round, while Radcliff Knibb's 81 did not register among the best four scores.
Individually, the best Hoerman Cup score was par - carded by Puerto Rico's Max Alverio, the Dominican Republic's Carlos Arias, Trinidad and Tobago's Carlos 'Sexy' Baynes and young Cayman sensation Johnny Widmer. Veteran campaigner Maggie Lyn was the undoubted star of the women's section yesterday as she shot a three-over 75 which, combined with Jodi Barrow's 81, sees Jamaica (156) take a seven-stroke lead into day two over the Bahamas (163) while Trinidad and Tobago (164) and Puerto Rico (166) are still well in range.
Young Tiffany Terrier shot an 83 and was unfortunately penalised two strokes at the par-five sixth when her ball was struck by another in the bunker. She played the ball from its new position instead of returning it to its original spot.
Lyn's round, which included three birdies and six bogeys, was one of only two among the women under 80. The other came from Trinidad and Tobago's Tracey Clarke (77).
The mid-amateur duo of Keith Stein and Carl Bruce performed solidly yesterday in the better ball Ramon Baez Trophy section for over-35s. They carded an even 72 to be in equal fourth place with the Dominican Republic and just two strokes off the lead set by Trinidad and Tobago's Wayne Baptiste and Patrick Boocock.
The Bahamas and U.S. Virgin Islands are a shot behind the leaders. Also playing the better ball format, Jamaica's seniors are well in the hunt.
John Smith and George Hugh also combined for a par-72 to be in joint second with Barbados and trailing the Cayman Islands by only a stroke in the Francis and Steele-Perkins event. The super senior combination of Dennis Atkinson and Ossie Lee carded a three-over 75 to be in seventh place, seven strokes behind the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States in the Higgs and Higgs Trophy event. First tee time today is 7:00 a.m.
