ROSE HALL, St James — Professional golf returns to the island today when the first ever Mojo6 tournament gets under way at the Cinnamon Hills course at Rose Hall, starting at 7:30 am.

Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson and American Amanda Blumenherst will meet in the first match after being paired at Tuesday evening’s draw party at IberoStar Grand Rose Hall Hotel.

After months of build-up, weeks of anticipation and the last two days of playing Pro-Am tournaments, it will be down to business as the players take on each other over three rounds.

The event that is being played during a break in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) calendar will test a new format called Raceway golf, which will be played over six holes — instead of the normal 18 — among 16 players in a match-play format which awards points per holes.

A total of seven points will be available for each match, with the winner of each hole being awarded a point and the match winner getting a bonus point.

Points will be spilt if the hole is halved, with each player getting half a point.

After each round, the highest-ranking players left will again get the chance to choose their opponents from those who also won.

At Tuesday’s draw, the top eight players, starting with Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, were allowed to choose their tee time and opponents.

Not surprisingly, the aggressive Pettersen, who is the top-ranked player here, chose Atlanta-based teenager Mariah Stackhouse and will play the penultimate match.

American veteran Cristie Kerr chose 22 year-old Spanish rookie Beatriz Recari and will tee-off in the sixth match as the Spaniard, who was voted in by fans as the 16th player, will be playing in only her second LPGA-sanctioned event.

The fifth game between third-ranked Yani Tseng of Taiwan and Brittany Lincicome of the USA will attract a lot of attention between two of the longest drivers on the tour.

Tseng, who is in her third year on the tour, is coming off a win at the Kraft Nabisco Championships less than two weeks ago, also had two other top-three finishes this season and is one of the favourites here.

The six-feet tall Swede Anna Nordqvist, who is on her second year on the tour after attending Arizona Sate University, chose American Kristy McPherson and will play in the fourth match.

There was some friendly bantering between Americans Angela Stanford and Christina Kim, with the latter promising, “I will have some fun (with this pairing)” and Stanford responding, “I will let my clubs do all the talking.”

After today’s three rounds, tomorrow’s play will start with the quarter-finals at 8:00 am, followed by the semi-finals, consolation play-offs and the finals, which should start by 1:30 pm and end with the awards ceremony.

First-round matches:

Match 1 – Sophie Gustafson (Swe) vs Amanda Blumenherst-USA

Match 2 – Song Hee Kim (SKorea) vs Morgan Pressell-USA

Match 3 – Na Yeon Choi (Korea) vs Brittany Lang (USA)

Match 4 – Anna Nordqvist (Sweden) vs Kristy McPherson (USA)

Match 5 – Yani Tseng (Taiwan) vs Brittany Lincicome (USA)

Match 6 – Cristie Kerr (USA) vs Beatriz Recari (Spain)

Match 7 – Suzann Pettersen (Norway) vs Mariah Stackhouse (USA)

Match 8 – Angela Stanford (USA) vs Christina Kim (USA).