Defending champion William Knibbs will compete in this weekend’s 25th staging of the Alliance Buccaneer Memorial Golf Tournament which gets underway today at the Caymanas Golf Club in St Catherine.

Knibbs has been spending time at the golf course to prepare for the defence of his title at the two-day tournament, which he won last year for the first time.

“I am feeling good about my chances this weekend. My Game isn’t quite as sharp as it was this time last year [and]tThat’s partly because of all the rain that we have been getting. The rain has limited practice time but I have been able to ramp up my practice the last few weeks so we’ll see how this weekend shakes out” he said.

Knibbs will be using the tournament to sharpen his preparation for the Jamaica Open which is scheduled for Tryall in December.

“Beyond that [the Alliance Buccaneer tournament], I have the Jamaica Open in a few weeks so the next few weeks should be fun,” according to Knibbs.

He will be challenged by former champions Justin Burrowes (2018) and Sean Morris (2017) who are also registered to compete in the tournament.

Knibbs is scheduled to tee off at 8:50 am, while Burrowes and Morris will start at 9:50.

One hundred golfers from across the island will descend on Caymanas Golf Club and will tee off between 7am – 12:20 pm daily. Some of the amateurs who will be on the course include former Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) presidents Gordon Hutchinson and Wayne Chai Chong, current president Peter Chin.

The tournament will feature two different competitions running concurrently. One will be a two-day, 36-hole Jamaica Golf Association qualifier, while the other to be played tomorrow will be a Stableford competition in the form of a charity fund raiser for the Laws Street Trade Training Centre.

Peter Chin, CEO of title sponsor, said that Alliance Investment Management was “happy to continue its sponsorship of the tournament” because the proceeds are used by a worthy organisation, the Laws Street Training Centre.

This year’s competition is being played in the memory of seven of Jamaica’s outstanding past national representatives, namely Milton ‘Buddy’ Josephs, Izette Rhone, Lenan Lennie Chin, John Fulford, Al Chong, Claude Stewart and Mark Chin – former captain of the Buccaneers.

The main awards presentation will be done immediately following the close of play.