TRYALL, Hanover — Ewan Peebles, the director of golf at Tryall Club, was hoping for better weather for the 54th staging of the Jamaica Golf Association Open Championships presented by Aqua Bay which tees off at eight o’clock this morning with golfers from seven countries hoping to lift the trophy on Wednesday afternoon.

The event started yesterday with the customary Pro-Am with the three-round, 54-hole main event set to start this morning, but on Saturday Peebles said they were hoping for blue skies and breeze to help dry out the course that was inundated with rain the previous weekend.

“The golf course is very green and very lush…but we are ready, we have had a lot of rainfall the past two weeks and so it is not as firm as we would like it to be,” he said at the media launch at Tryall Club on Saturday. “This is a championship golf course and it stood the test with fields from the PGA tour, fields from the senior tour, fields from the LPGA Tour and I know it will provide a stirring test for the Jamaica Open field this week.”

Sixty-eight golfers are down to participate from Jamaica, the USA, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, and Uganda.

A new champion will be crowned as American Erik Barnes, who shot a 13 under par 203 last December to top the field, will not take part, but the organisers were confident of yet another competitive Open over the three days.

Peebles said the deluge from the stationary front over the western end of the island had given them some headache. “It has been challenging, we had about 11 inches of rain last weekend between Saturday, Sunday and Monday and we had some intermittent showers this week, but it is drying out and with the blue skies today and some nice breeze I am hoping for about 36-48 hours of this type of weather before Monday morning, it would be much appreciated,” he said.

He added: “It would help to dry the place out and firm it up a little bit and provide the type of test we want Tryall to be, it’s a strong test regardless but when the place is a little drier and firmer then it demands a little bit more control and a little bit more precision with the shot-making and shot-selection and that is the Tryall Club that most people know and really enjoy and appreciate.”

Americans Brad Adamonis and Stephen Grant, who were both in the top five last year, are down to compete as well as Dustin Risdon, who played in the event when it was held at Half Moon’s White Witch course, as well as the BMW Latino America Tour stop at the Cinnamon Hills course.