The two-man team of Dr Mark Newnham and Michael Gleichman was the runaway winner of the Jamaica Golf Association’s (JGA) trials for the Caribbean Amateur Golf Association’s (CAGC) Four-Ball Championship, which was held at the Caymanas Golf Club over the weekend.

They were competing in the trials to represent Jamaica in the defence of the Francis Steele Trophy for men over 50 years. Their scores during the three rounds were one under par 71, five under par 67 and one over par 73 for a combined five under par 211.

They ended the trials ahead of their nearest rival Owen Samuda and Philip Prendergast by seven strokes. Samuda and Prendergast posted two rounds of 73 and par 72 on the final day for a total of two over par 218. Third place in the category went to the team of William Lee and Philip Gooden, who had scores of 75, 76 and 75 for their total of 10 over par 226.

Newnham said: “[I] am very proud of how we played. We feel we didn’t play our best despite the five under [on Saturday], we still feel we left a lot of shots out there.”

Gleichman praised his partner, saying, “I had the best partner that someone can have”.

The category winner of the Higgs & Higgs Cup was the two-man team of former JGA president Wayne Chai Chong and Rory Jardine. They were in second place at the end of day one with a score of one under par 71, but ended up in a three-way tie after round two by posting two over par 74 at 145.

At the end of the third and final round, they separated themselves by carding the best score of all 14 teams on the course with three under par 69. This gave them a combined score of two under par 214, which was three strokes over the second-placed team of Dorrel Allen and Robert Chin.

Allen and Chin were in third on day one with par 72, then posted one over par 73 in the second round (part of the three-way tie in round two) and followed up with par 72 in the final round for 217. The third place team of Michael Boyd and Bert Tomlinson had the best first round of the three teams with three under par 69, but faltered in round two with four over par 76 (the third of the three-way tie) and then three over par 75 in the final round for 220 overall.

Competitors for the Higgs & Higgs Cup must be over 60 years.

Chai Chong said: “I think we combined very well… there were few holes where one of us would have been out and each of those holes the other partner came in and we worked really well.”

The third category of players were in the hunt for the defence of the Ramon Baez Cup for men thirty-five years and over. The team of Seam Morris and Delroy Johnson had three good days of three over par 75, three under par 69 and even par 72 for an even par total score of 216.