OCHO RIOS, St Ann — The 10th staging of the Couples Resorts Ocho Rios Charity Golf Tournament takes place today at the Sandals Golf & Country Club here at Upton, St Ann.

Sponsored by LIME, the scramble format event will have registration and sign in at 10:30 am, with a shot gun start an hour later.

All proceeds from the event go the Port Maria Hospital, the Three Hill Primary School, the Hamilton Mountain Basic School and Animal House, all located in St Mary and St Ann.

To date, the tournament has raised in excess of $10 million for local charities, with $1.2 million raised last year. In addition, Couples Resorts CEO Glenn Lawrence announced at the end of last year’s event that a third of the money raised at the tournament would be donated to the Haiti relief, and that amount would have been matched by his Couples Resorts, totalling J$800,000.

The tournament was the brainchild of multiple repeat guests of the hotel, Gene and Jane Saks, and Alan and Josie Kline, who wanted to find a way to ‘give back’ to the country and people they care so much for.

At press time, it was unclear how many players would participate in this year’s event, but 62 did last year, many of them local.

First prize in the Open Division went to Greg Wright and Warren Ersley, who won three-night stays at a Couples Resort, while second place went to Cary Nattoo and Robert Smith, who won two-night stays, also at a Couples Resort.

Other prizes were given for the Putting Contest, won by Clive Allen, Wayne Sutherland and Chuck Salayi; Closest to the Line (male and female) won by Sean Morris and Michelle Gabay, and Closest to the Pin (male and female) won by Cary Nattoo and Marnie Savic.