SANDY BAY, Hanover — The Tryall golf course in Sandy Bay, Hanover, will host the Jamaica Golf Open for the first time when the 56th staging of the longest-running event of its kind in the Caribbean is held from December 11-14, it was announced on Tuesday (November 19) at a press conference at the resort.

The same course that hosted nearly a dozen major international championships, including the Johnnie Walker World Championships between 1991 and 1995 completed a three-year renovation project recently and will be used to stage the 54-hole Open.

Peter Chin, president of the Jamaica Golf Association (JGA), said with 55 players, mostly from overseas already signed up for the event, it is “a truly international event”, with the winner guaranteed to get US$100,000.

The event gets underway with a Pro Am on Wednesday, December 11 with the main event set to start the next day, running through to Saturday, December 14.

Chin said “it’s about time” the event that has been held at the White Witch course at Half Moon is held at Tryall in Hanover.

Ewan Peebles, the director of golf at Tryall said he was excited about hosting the event on the course that had “completely renovated greens” as part of the overall refurbishing exercise, adding that the tournament is “a perfect fit at a time to re-establish Tryall as a premier golf destination”.