With the objectives of the 18th Sandals US Travel Advisors (USTA) Golf Tournament met, Jake Coldiron, national manager of golf sales, is intent on using it as a platform to achieve similar success for the upcoming Latin American and Canadian Advisors tournaments.

Though employed at Sandals Resorts International for the past 13 years, the just-concluded US Travel Advisors Tournament represented Coldiron’s first time at the helm where organisation is concerned, and, by all indications, his expertise was well received.

Coldiron was particularly pleased about the response of the Advisors, who couldn’t contain their excitement about being back on the island for the four-man scramble tournament after the novel coronavirus pandemic-induced two-year break.

“It was an excellent event,” Coldiron told the Jamaica Observer shortly after Tuesday’s glitzy awards ceremony on the sand at Sandals Ocho Rios Beach Resort. “We had 21 teams and everybody seemed happy. They were very competitive, but at the end of the day, it’s all about fun and I think it’s going to help drive business down to Jamaica.”

Team six, who were joint third with 65 strokes on day one, reigned supreme with a two-day total of 126 strokes. The quartet of Adam Anderson, Jay Noller, Jeremy Lee, and David Anderson, finished one stroke ahead of the team of Ron Wagman, David Assef, Scott Austin, and Annaliza Proctor.

Team Two, comprising Larry Field, Larry Field Sr, Dennis Field, and Michael Zuch was third with 128 strokes.

This, Coldiron believes, has set the tone for what is to come.

“My next move is to grow the event, obviously, but it’s also to try and get more people familiar with Sandals and Beaches golf, sell more golf packages to give Johnny [Jonathan Newnham] and his team more players to play. The ultimate goal is to get more heads in beds, but also to get more golfers on the course,” he said.

“We’ve built a really great foundation here for the USTA Golf Tournament and I think in just about three weeks when Latin America comes here, it’s going to be just as good and same thing is anticipated for Canada. So we have two upcoming events that are also going to be very successful based on what happened here over the last few days,” Coldiron added.

Adam Anderson, a member of the winning team, also topped the putting contest, fittingly capping what he said was a much-needed visit.

“It’s a lot of fun to be back to compete with our colleagues and we are just thankful that we were able to return,” he said. “Obviously, the pandemic was tough for everyone, but through it we found that the more we laughed and tried to stay positive, the better we did. So, again, we are really happy that Sandals invited us out to this.”

Approximately US$990 (just about $150,000) was raised by Sandals Foundation for the junior golf programme through the longest yard contest.

That was won by Cindy Fisher and Russell Hulse, with Annaliza Proctor and Chuck Bentivegna topping the closest to the pin race. Steve Ellemo was also among the winners as he finished tops in the chipping contest.