Good show for Jamaica on day one of 31st Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Championship
At the end of day one of the 31st Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Championship at Caymanas Golf Club in St Catherine, Jamaica featured in the top five positions of all six age group categories while sitting at the top of the leaderboard in the boys 18 & Under category with Sebert Walker Jr scoring an even par 72.
Walker leads five other golfers who are tied for second including fellow Jamaican Justin Burrowes, who all shot four over par or 76. The score cards show the other four golfers to be Juan Delgafo and Gustavo Betances of Dominican Republic and brothers Melvin and Antonio Morales of Puerto Rico.
On the girls’ side, Jamaica’s Kei Harris lies in second position on 76 behind Puerto Rico’s Valeria Pacheco with a score of three over par or 75. Maria Sanchez of Dominican Republic is tied with Kai Harris.
The 15 & Under category is the only one with under par scores. Aaron Jarvis, two under par — 70 — of the Cayman Islands and Diego Saavedra, one under par 71, of defending champion Puerto Rico, are the two under par golfers. Julio Rios of Dominican Republic is on 74, while the best-placed Jamaican is Michael Lowe with a day ending score of 75, lying in fourth position.
The girls’ section is led by Emily Odwin of Puerto Rico, who ended the day on 76 or four over pay. The top Jamaican in the category is Eryn Blakely, who posted a score of 83 or 11 over par.
Chris Richards of Trinidad and Tobago is atop the 13 and Under leaderboard by just one stroke ahead of Jamaica’s Rocco Lopez. Their scores are 75 and 76, respectively.
The girls’ 13 and Under showed Jamaica’s Emily Mayne scoring 85 to take the third spot behind Darianys Guzman of Barbados on 78 and Holy McLean of the Cayman Islands on 83.
Turks and Caicos, with just one golfer in the championship — Kurt Rivers in the 15 and Under category — lies in fifth position with a score of nine under par 81. The island is still reeling from last year’s hurricane and this meant that they could not prepare a full team for the competition.
The end of day team standings show defending champion Puerto Rico leading on 48 points. Jamaica and Dominican Republic are tied for second on 43 points, while Trinidad & Tobago are in third on 34 points. The top five is completed by The Bahamas, 29 points, and Barbados on 25 points.
Turks and Caicos with their one golfer bagged six points for seventh position. The other competing country is Cayman Islands with 23 points.
The competitors will return to the course today for the second round of golf for all eight participating countries. The first Jamaican on the course will be Justin Burrowes. He will tee off at 8:40 am, while Sebert Walker will go off at 8:50 am.
