THE two-man team of Dr Mark Newnham and Michael Gleichman was the runaway winner of last weekend’s Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) trial for the Caribbean Amateur Golf Association’s (CAGC) Four-Ball Championship.

The competition was held at Caymanas Golf Club.

The golfers were vying to represent Jamaica in the two-time defence of the Francis Steele Trophy for men over 50 years. The scores for Newnham and Gleichman 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 trial ahead of nearest rivals 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.

“[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,” Newnham said.

Gleichman, who has returned to the Jamaica team after a 17-year break, praised his partner.

“I had the best partner that someone can have. He’s come a long way in 17 years. He hits the ball amazing… he’s a good golfer. I am coming back in the scene; been away for a while but I am here. I am here to stay, I am here to win,” he said.

The category winner for the two-time defence 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 following round two after 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 fourteen 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-place team of Dorrel Allen and Robert Chin.

The third category of players were in the hunt for another two-time defence of the Ramon Baez Cup for men 35 and over. The team of Sean 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.

There were fourteen two-man teams on the golf course who were vying to represent Jamaica in the three categories — five in the Francis Steele Trophy, eight in the Higgs & Higgs Cup and one in the Ramon Baez Cup.

In addition to the competition for the category trophy/cups Jamaica will be in the hunt for its two-time defence of the Ambrose Gouthro Trophy (country trophy) which it first won in 2019 in Florida. There was no competition in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus.

According to the US Golf Association rules, four-ball stroke play is a competition in which two competitors play as partners, each playing his own ball, but the lower score between the partners is the score for the hole.