A confident Jamaican team left the island on Sunday afternoon for the Cayman Islands, to compete in the 35th Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Championships. They will team up with Captain Emily Mayne, who is already on location, and will go through two practice rounds ahead of Wednesday’s start of the championship.

The two coaches — Jonathan Newnham and Jason Lopez — were upbeat about the team’s chances to win the championship.

Newnham said: “The team is great; we have representation in every category. We have quite a few experienced [players and] most of the team have played there before. We have a few new guys but we have been training with them and welcoming them with open arms so we are looking forward to the challenge. Cayman, I have a lot of personal familiarity with it and the course should be a good fit for our players, so I am excited by the challenge ahead.”

Coach Lopez supported that position when he said “we have a good team so I think that myself and Coach Johnny are gonna really do everything we can to get them across the finish line this time”.

Mattea Issa was happy to take on the additional responsibility.

“It feels good to be co-captain [and to have] all the responsibilities that come with it…I am gonna help the team as much as I can to put our best foot forward, to try and get the best results possible,” she noted.

Samantha Azan is one of two age group defending champions, having won the Under-15 trophy and the Kenneth Francis Trophy last year — first time ever for a Jamaican player.

Davin Hogan, the only new member on the team, says he is looking forward to the experience. “I have never done this before and it’ll be new for me, and hopefully it’ll be a good experience for everybody.”

The youngest member of the team, Alessandra Coe, said: “I feel good. I am very excited to represent Jamaica and I am ready.”

The eight competing countries are The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, and host Cayman Islands.