Even as competitors battled gamely during the 20th annual USA Travel Advisors Golf tournament at Sandals Upton Estate Golf and Country Club in St Ann, the event’s philanthropic component was very much at the forefront throughout.

Despite rain ruining the golf competition on Sunday’s opening day, organisers said they raised US $800 from the two-day tournament.

The funds raised are to benefit the Sandals Foundation and its charity initiatives, including the Bill Williams-run Care for Kids Junior Golf Programme which helps numerous at-risk youth to develop life skills and offers them avenues for social and economic upward mobility.

“This is a very important tournament every year for us to get a little extra for the foundation because the kids [have] got to play tournaments and we use the money to fund them. We help who cannot really afford to go to school — we do help with that too,” Williams, the lead professional golfer at Sandals Upton Estate, said during an interview on the course on Monday.

Williams said he has always had a soft spot for disadvantaged children, some of whom he has helped to develop into professionals.

“I love kids… there’s a duty in me to take care of kids. I always tell myself, if you can grow kids, you grow the country, and you’re growing something good. The guys tell me they love it because I take them off the streets and… them things.

“I’ve been doing this programme, you know, since 2002, that’s when I started. I went into my village where I live in Exchange and I see kids… and I bring them over and [guide] them.

“I turn out some very good kids out of this thing here. And they are all over the world, global now. There [are] so many kids, if I was to ever call the names… I can’t remember so [many] of them,” he said, while naming a few of his proteges.

On the golf course, Team 6, comprising Jeremy Lee, David Schutz — both situated in Alabama — and the Wisconsin-based father and son pair of David and Adam Anderson, won the top prize.

Team 13, which featured Jano Wullie Billie, Brandon Kendrick, Chris Garton, and Mark Deffenbaugh, finished second.

Donna Tanner won the ladies’ award, finishing closest to the pin, while Welton Bowie claimed the men’s equivalent.

Megan Sams completed the longest drive in the ladies’ category, while Schutz secured the men’s corresponding award.

The best dressed award went to Team 1, and Team 10 was declared winner of the most honest accolade.

North Dakota-based Mark Haley, whose Team 11 — comprising his son Marcus and the Mississippi-situated husband and wife duo of Martin and Jennifer Palomo — finished middle of the pack, said it was an “unbelievable” experience.

“The golf is incredible and the course is fantastic, and it’s included when you stay at Sandals Resorts… which is unbelievable. The competition was really, really good… it was unbelievable. We had a lot of fun. Yes, there was rain — a little bit mixed with sunshine — but in Jamaica that’s no problem, and we loved it,” he told Jamaica Observer after the awards ceremony at Sandals Ochi Beach Resort on Monday evening.

Noting the tournament’s multifaceted objectives, which includes showcasing Jamaica as a golf tourism destination, Haley said contributing to the foundation is an important element.

“I’ve owned my travel agency for 35 years, and we’ve been selling Sandals for 35 years, and we’ve always supported the Sandals Foundation. We tell our clients, our customers to bring their donations, like backpacks and books, things like that, for the kids when they travel to Jamaica,” he said.

—Sanjay Myers