The professionals and amateurs were locked at five points each at the end of the first day of the two-day inaugural Rose Cup, sponsored by Mayberry Investments, which teed off yesterday morning at 7:00 at the Caymanas Golf Club.

Pros Wesley Brown and Al Robinson and amateurs Wayne Chai Chong and Dr Tommy Lee were the first group to tee off in the Four Ball format of play in the morning session, while the afternoon session comprised the two-ball or foursome.

The first session comprised of five groups of four players — two pros and two amateurs each, with five points on the line. The pairings of the other four groups in the session were: Pros Martin Butt/Kevin McDonald vs William Knibbs/Dr Mark Newnham; Orville Christie/Raymond Brown vs Justin Burrowes/Sean Morris; Sean Green/Allan Graham vs Rocco Lopez/John O’Donoghue, and Jonathan Newnham/Joel Campbell vs Jack Staein/Sebert Walker Jr.

Competition was stiff from the start with the pros taking first strike with Wesley Brown and Al Robinson getting the better of Wayne Chai Chong and Dr Tommy Lee to close the round, winning five holes to none with three holes to go, to give the pros the first point of the session.

Brown was pleased to give his team the first point. “It was challenging in the first couple holes because of waking up early, getting the first tee time and coming in from the country. It’s kinda difficult getting a hot start but it felt good getting the first point for the professional team.”

He commented on the tournament saying, “In honour of Mr Seymour Rose, the Rose Cup is a great tournament. I love the challenge against the amateurs to see where their game is at and it was a good feeling coming out on top. We wanted to finish this match early, but as I said, we did not get the hot start that we hoped to get, but a win is a win.”

According to Brown, the intention is to win, “That is the intention. I have never entered a tournament with the intention of losing, always hoping and play as best as I can and give my team the best chance, so if me and my partner Al Robinson continue to play this well, if we start early and continue to play well all the matches will be over and all our points will accumulate to we winning the Rose Cup.”

Two more pro pairings beat their amateur pairings to close the first session with the pros in the lead three points to two for the amateurs. Green/Graham defeated Lopez/O’Donoghue two up with one hole to go, and Newnham/Campbell posted were 3-1 against Walker Jr/Stein.

The amateurs to win their matchups were Knibbs/Dr Newnham 4-3 over Butt/McDonald, and Morris/Burrowes 5-4 against Christie/Brown.

Sean Morris, co-chair organiser and amateur captain, on the other hand, would have preferred to be in the lead. He said, “Actually, I thought we would have been in the lead, however, we have been trailing in two matches which have just finished and I gather we have lost those two matches so we are actually down one match so the professionals have the advantage from the morning session.”

He was pleased to see the start of the Rose Cup. “For sure, when I came to the golf course this morning there was a lot of buzz around, the caddies were out early, they were in anticipation of the inaugural Rose Cup kick-off time, everybody was growling around and people were out there walking and thing. I think it’s something that we are looking forward to. I think it’s something we all want and we want to grow it and keep it on the calendar for years to come.”

According to Morris, “My play was splendid. Our match finished five with four holes to go. We had a good day.”

The amateurs came back in the afternoon session to win three of their matchups against the pros to close the day’s play on five all going into the final day with 12 more points on the line.

The pro team of Wesley Brown/Al Robinson had another win, this time against Rocco Lopez/John O’Donoghue 5 up with four holes to go. The other pro win went to Orville Christie/Raymond Brown vs Sebert Walker Jr/Jack Stein 3-2.

The winning amateur teams in the afternoon session were Sean Morris/Justin Burrowes vs Sean Green/Allan Graham 2-1; Shamar Wilson/John Dunbar vs Michael Rowe/Kevin Nedrick 6-5, and William Knibbs/Philip Prendergast vs Martin Butt/Kevin McDonald 3-2.

Today’s second and final day will see all 12 members of the pro team battling the amateurs in one-on-one battles with 12 points on the line.

Tee time for the second day is 7:30 am.