FIVE of the eight-member Jamaica team departed the island on Saturday for the 64th Caribbean Amateur Golf Championship which will be played at the Country Club at Grand Reserve, Rio Grande in Puerto Rico from August 24 to 26.

The five members are Justin Burrowes, Mattea Issa, William Knibbs, Dr Mark Newnham and Shamar Wilson. They will be joined by Rocco Lopez, Owen Samuda and Madelyn Newkirk.

The team will conduct two practice rounds on the par 72 course prior to the start of the championship. They will be going after three trophies — the team/country Authur Ziadie Trophy, the Hoerman Cup for men and the George Teale Trophy for women.

A strong men’s team headed by national amateur golf champion Justin Burrowes will lead the charge for the Hoerman Cup, which Jamaica has never won and in pursuit of which they placed third when the championship was last held in 2019. There was no competition in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

According to Burrowes, “It’s one of my favourite tournaments, the Caribbean tournament. It means everything to me to travel with my team to represent my country and hopefully do well.”

He welcomed the new players. “I think they get along really well with the team, they are two very easy people to get along with so that aspect of it is easy. They are both two very talented golfers so I know they will go out and do their best — and that’s all we can really ask for. I played junior golf with Rocco [senior team debut at 16 years old] at least three or four times so I know Rocco really well and we are rooming together. And Shamar, we have been playing together for the past two or three years so we have a good connection there; and in the team practices we have been getting along really well and I think to have them on the team is a good addition.”

Wilson said, “It feels exciting, naturally, to go and represent your country — which is the highest stage there is. Everybody wants to get to the stage where it’s the biggest thing to go represent your country, so I am really excited about that.”

The most experienced member of the team is Dr Mark Newnham, who said: “What I bring to the team is not only that level of experience, but in previous management as well as obviously physician capacities, I have been able to get the best out of the team, and I am just looking forward. If you take out my age we are talking about a very young group of players, talented, awesome, and we’re just gonna play and support each other and do Jamaica proud. The awesome talent that’s there and how well we gel together is gonna really do well for our chances of bringing home the Hoerman Cup and the George Steele Trophy.”

The other experienced player and former national amateur golf champion, Williams Knibbs, said. “I feel like I am rounding into form at the right time so physically, the game is there, so it’s just for me to deal with it mentally and emotionally.”

Jamaica boasts the full complement of six allowed male golfers, however, while they will all play only the four best scores will be used to determine the team points.

The female team has been weakened due to the unavailability of the four golfers who were named after the trials. This is because the date of the championship was changed to a later time in August and they could not get the time off from school.

Fourteen-year-old Mattea Issa makes her debut on the senior team while Madelyn Newkirk, who represented Jamaica back in 2016, returns to the team.

Issa was happy for her first call-up to the senior team. “It feels great to represent my country; it’s something that I have always wanted to do. It’s a goal of mine to do at this age. Most of the people on my team are a lot older than me so being 14 I think is gonna be a great learning experience, and I am gonna have a great time. My expectation for this tournament is to learn a lot and do the best as I can, shoot as best as I can and overall, end this tournament being a better golf player because I will be learning a lot from the rest of my teammates.”

Team Manager Robert Chin has high hopes for the team’s chances at the championship. “I think the men’s team will do very well given the experience and given the fact that these guys have performed at the highest level in the Caribbean before, so I do expect them to deliver. On the female side, a little short but it’s what it is and we have to just play with what we have.”