OSHAE Haye and Zandre Roye will represent Jamaica at the ninth Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC) from January 18 to 21, in Panama. This is the first time for both golfers at the championship. They departed the island on Monday afternoon.

They were both excited for the opportunity to represent the country and put on a good show. Haye is a former national golf champion while Roye has won many golf events including the Heroes Golf Classic. They have also represented Jamaica at the regional level with good results.

Haye said that “really and truly I was very, very excited” when informed that he had been selected as one of the two representatives.

“After I heard that I am in I would say pretty thanks to Mr Johan Campbell. He is the one who have us playing all the courses around the island so we work pretty hard on the game headed in for this tournament. My main [intention] is to make that cut and as Zandre said, we take it step by step from there,” Haye added.

Roye was equally pleased to get his first call-up. “It’s an honour to represent the country in this championship. It’s a long way coming. Been working really hard on the game and to get this opportunity, it really means a lot,” he said.

He is ready for the expected high level competition at the championship.

“My game is there. I hit the ball just as well as any of those guys over there. It’s all about putting the four rounds together and see where it ends up at the end of the week,” he said.

He is also happy to have his best friend Oshae on tour with him. “I couldn’t ask for a better person to be on this trip with me [than] my best friend Oshae Haye. We been growing up from we are 12 years old and to be leaving the country right now to play in one of the biggest amateur tournaments in this part of the world is [a] ‘goose bump’ moment.”

When he found out that he was selected to represent Jamaica at the championship, “it was just pure joy. The entire team was just ecstatic about the moment and embrace it as much as possible and then snap back to reality and said it’s time to start to put in some additional work to get prepared for the tournament”.

Jodi Munn-Barrow, president of the Jamaica Golf Association, said: “The Jamaica Golf Association is very proud to have Zandre Roye and Oshae Haye represent us at the LAAC this coming week. Zandre and Oshae have been playing in regional events and they have garnered a lot of experience which I am sure will augur well for them as they face new challenges at this prestigious event.”