Zandre Roye and Oshae Haye once again topped the field at the Couples Resorts Ocho Rios Charity Golf Tournament which took place at the Sandals Golf and Country Club in Upton, St Ann, on Sunday.

Some 90 golfers participated in the 22nd staging of the event, raising $2.5 million to charities in St Ann, notably the Three Hills Primary School, a long-time benefactor of the charity event.

For Roye and Haye, who were putting the final touches on their preparation for the Latin America Amateur Championship in Panama, Sunday’s exercise was a timely opportunity to both sharpen their stroke play heading in to the regional event while contributing to the charity efforts of the two decades-old event at home.

The pair tallied 59 to finish 12 under par, topping the Gross Score section of the two-man scramble competition, each winning two-night stays at a Couples Tower Isle or Couples San Souci suite. Mark Newham and Jodi Munn-Barrow (63) finished second in the Gross Score category.

“Coming here and defending the gross section title, I mean, we knew we had it in us, we got off to a relatively slow start, per se, but after chipping in a birdie on the fourth hole, that really put winds in our sails and then we just kept grinding after that,” said Roye.

The pair registered an eagle at the 10th hole and back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12 to really separate themselves from the pack and underline their class.

“At that point, we were just wondering how low we could take the score and I think 12 under for the day is a pretty solid score, not many persons could have done that and we are very happy for that result,” added Roye.

The proceeds from the event will be used to complete the tiling of classrooms at the Three Hills Primary school with a portion also going towards animal rescue efforts along the north coast corridor.

Wayne Williams, the chief executive officer at Couples Resorts, underlined the importance of the event towards the company’s efforts to continue its positive impact on its community.

“This is one of the biggest ones that we’ve had. My understanding is that we had about 90 players, 80 the prior year which we considered big, so it’s good that the numbers are growing. The cause for this tournament is quite worthy, quite noble. We invest a lot of time and effort into ensuring that the Three Hills Primary school — who we are very close to physically and have grown close to over over the years — has benefited tremendously and we consider this a part of our responsibility and duty to the community and to the island to build out and to ensure that we give back and so the support of the golfers, the support of corporate Jamaica, in this effort over the years has just been really tremendous,” said Williams.

Principal of Three Hills Primary, Slean Harris, again welcomed the support while highlighting some of the recent projects undertaken by the charity.

“As a school and a family in the community we look forward to this support because it has been enhancing the atmosphere and resources at our school,” Harris said.

In addition to the tiling work which started last year, the school has benefitted from a 10-computer resource centre, full toilet upgrade and other projects, through the funds raised at the golf event.

Meanwhile, in the Net Score category, Doc Gels and Fabian Gordon came out on top with a score of 62, one stroke better than the pair of Clifton Campbell and Tenny Davis (63) in second place.

Places third to fifth in the Net Score category all scored 63.75 and had to be separated by who had the better back-nine with the team of Opeton Marshall and Raymond Rudd coming out ahead of Fitzroy and Audrey Hurst as well as Rapino Logan and Gerard Rice.

Tadjae Richards won the putting contest and walked away with a Samsung Galaxy A34 cellphone courtesy of main sponsors Digicel Business.

Larry Lodenquai (hole 13), Jenny Schneider (hole 16), George Watt (hole 2), John Odde (hole 7) and Dale Wanliss (hole 4) took the honours in the ‘Closest to the pin’ contest.

The organisers of the event also paid tribute to Maureen Sheridan, the founder of Animal House.

Couples Resorts Chief Executive Officer Wayne Williams (right) shares the spotlight with winners of the Couples Resorts Ocho Rios Charity Golf Tournament Oshae Haye (left) and Zandre Roye at the Sandals Golf and Country Club in St Ann on Sunday.