Jamaica came out smiling after grabbing three of the eight trophies on offer at the 31st Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Championship, which was held at Caymanas Golf Club in St Catherine.

Justin Burrowes took home the James Moss Solomon trophy for the 18 & Under category and Rocco Lopez copped the Bob Slatter trophy after topping the 13 & Under category, while Kei Harris took her second hold on the Izzy Marley Award for sportsmanship.

The other trophies went to Valeria Pacheco, 18 & Under of Puerto Rico — Peter Hale trophy; Diego Saavedr, 15 & Under of Puerto Rico — Arturo Pellerano trophy; Emily Odwin, 15 & Under of Barbados — Kenneth Francis trophy; and Holly McLean, 13 & Under of Cayman Islands — John Fitzgerald Harwood trophy.

The team category, the Hank James trophy was retained by defending champions Puerto Rico, who ended the championship with 143 points ahead of Jamaica’s 136 points for second. Jamaica equalled their best placement in the championship like they did in 2016. The other six teams finished in the following order — Dominican Republic on 131, Trinidad & Tobago with 106, The Bahamas on 78, Barbados with 73, the Cayman Islands on 68, and Turks & Caicos with 15. They had just one golfer.

The 18 & Under boys’ winner, Justin Burrowes carded a one under par 71 on the final day to end with a total score of 223, after posting similar scores of 76 on day one and two of the championship. He was very pleased with his performance. “I am very happy with how I played. Coming into today I said that I would have to go under par and I did it, so I reached my goal today and I am just very happy how I played.”

The runner-up in the category was Juan Delgado of Dominican Republic, who scored five under par to end with an overall score of 237. Sebert Walker, who led on day one, ended in seventh position with a final score of 234 after scoring 10 over par on the last day.

The girls’ 18 & Under went to defending champion Valeria Pacheco of Puerto Rico. She had tournament scores of 75, 79 and even par 72 on the final day to close with a total score of 226. This was four strokes ahead of second-placed Kei Harris of Jamaica, who carded even par on the last day. Harris was, however, happy to win the Izzy Marley trophy for the second time. She said, “It’s an absolute honour. To win her award not once but twice in this competition, it brings tears. It’s so special to me.”

Aaron Jarvis of the Cayman Islands and Diego Saavedra of Puerto Rico ended the championship with identical scores of 221. They were therefore tied for first place in the boys’ 15 & Under category and will share the Arturo Pellerano trophy for the year. Julio Rios with 225 of Dominican Republic was the runner-up. The best-placed Jamaican in the category was Michael Lowe with 230.

On the girls’ side, Emily Odwin of Barbados won the category with an overall score of 235. Yea Ecun Kim of Dominican Republic (241) took the runner-up spot, while Jamaican Eryn Blakely (255) ended in seventh position.

Jamaica’s Rocco Lopez (230) rocked the boys’ 13 & Under category, getting ahead of Chris Richards of Trinidad & Tobago (231) by just one stroke. According to Lopez’s coach Jason Lopez, “he is a great player, he was consistent every day. He is a super talent — I believe he is one of the most talented golfers in region”.

The final age group category — the girls’ 13 & Under went to Holly McLean (246) of the Cayman Islands, while Jamaica’s Emily Mayne (255), was the runner-up.

According to Eduardo Figueroa, coach of 11-time champion team Puerto Rico, “it was great. It was a great challenge for us. Jamaica played great today. It was great to see the kids do their best every day and having fun. At the end we came out victorious so that’s a relief for us.”

Regarding Jamaica’s performance, coach Jason Lopez said that “our kids did amazingly well. We came up a little bit short [as] we had some little unfortunate things. We lost our top under-15 boy Tristan Brown a week before the event. That really hurts. We fought hard. We won the under-18 boys. We won the under-13 boys. We came second in the under-18 girls. We had standout performances. It was a team effort. I am proud of the kids who did well. We did everything we could. Puerto Rico was just very strong.”

Alison Reid of the Jamaica Golf Association, who was tasked with leading the team to plan and execute the championship, said: “I am really happy it went on well. I am happy that it’s over. It went well. It proves that hard work pays off.”