TRYALL, Hanover — After last week’s successful staging of the 52nd Alacran Jamaica Open Golf Championships, optimism is high that the event will return to the Tryall Club for the 2020 staging of the five-hole event.

American Patrick Cover shot a 12 under par 204 to win by two strokes over David Morland IV in the event  staged December 12-14.

Ewan Peebles, director of golf at the Tryall Club, is among those who are hoping the Jamaica Golf Association will keep the event there for the foreseeable future.

“I think Tryall would love to have it back,” he told the Jamaica Observer last week Saturday as the event drew to a close. “We just had a one-year agreement for this event so there is still some water to flow under the bridge, but I am quietly confident that we will have it back here next year.”

While it was the first time the event was being held at Tryall after being staged at the Half Moon course for a number of years, the venue that was being refurbished for three years has hosted a number of international events, including the Johnnie Walker World Championships in the past.

Peebles, who also played in the tournament, carding a 17 over par 233, said the entire week was memorable.

 “It’s been a great week. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” he said.  “The golf course was very difficult on day one — the wind really blew hard,” said Peebles.

 “It [view on course conditions] depends on your perspective, I guess if you are a golfing purist then its good, but if you are out there trying to battle your way through it then maybe it is not quite that good? But it’s been great; there was a great atmosphere around the club and the golf course this week, a lot of activity,” he said.

Tryall Club, Peebles said, had made a name as a championships golf course. “We had one or two low scores today [as] the breeze dropped down,” he noted.

Over the three days there were some low scores, with American Brandon Robinson-Thomas’s eight under par 64 on Saturday’s final round being the lowest of the week. Derek Gillespie of Canada shot a six under par 66 on Saturday as well, while Cover and compatriot Michael Maguire both had rounds of five under par 67s and there were five rounds of four under par 68s, including one each by Jamaicans Ian Facey and Aaron Bailey.

Only three players shot under par scores for the three days — Cover, runner-up Moreland IV and Canadian Thomas DeMarco, who finished fourth overall.

While not wanting to say how much money was pumped into the three-year refurbishing work at Tryall Club, Peebles said the goal was to make the venue truly world-class.

“I am not at liberty to share a number with you, but one of the downsides of golf generally is that it’s an expensive game, its an expensive game to play — it’s an expensive game to learn and it is expensive to maintain a quality golf course like the one we have here.

“But we are fortunate that we have a membership here at the Tryall Club who are passionate about golf and support the golf course and believes the golf course brings value to the club and to our members villas and the residencies here; and we are able to maintain a strong golf product here at the Tryall Club by virtue of their support. I have no doubt that our golf course will improve over time, as the changes we have made will bear fruit and hopefully we can have events like this back here,” Peebles stated.

The aim, he insists, was to get the course to the stage where it rivals the ones at Half Moon and Cinnamon Hills in Montego Bay.

 “Our goal was not just to be number one here in Jamaica, but one, if not the best in the Caribbean… we are not there yet, but the golf course, we spent three years renovating it, upgrading the facilities, improving it, and it has gotten better every year the last three years and it will continue to get better as it matures and as it settles. So hopefully we can get events like this back here next year because it will only get better over time,” said Peebles.

Whether they would seek to get other international tournaments there was still to be seen, but Peebles was not of the opinion that Jamaica lacked in this department.

“Over the last few years Jamaica has done fairly well hosting international golf tournaments…the Jamaica Open has moved around one or two different course; the last three years we have had the PGA LatinoAmerica tour here and we have had an array of international Pro-Ams at various different venues — so I think we are doing a pretty good job.” the added, “There are always room for improvements but I think we are doing a good job of attracting international competitions here to the island of Jamaica.”