Oshane Haye had to do without his usual partner, but his recruitment of another home course player, Carl Brown, proved successful as he returned to claim a third-straight win at the Couples Resorts Ocho Rios Charity Golf tournament at the Sandals Golf and Country Club in Upton, St Ann, on Sunday, when over two million was raised towards several organisation and institutions.

Zandre Roye spent the weekend in Buenos Aires, Argentina, representing the island at the Latin America Amateur Championship, but his absence was not felt by Haye, who along with Brown, hit a nine-under-par 62 to come out as the gross score winners in the two-man scramble, finishing one stroke ahead of the team of Mark Newnham and Jodi Munn at the tournament, which attracted 78 golfers from across the country.

In net scoring, Michelle McCreath and Jerone Thomas finished in first place with a score of 56, with second place going to the pair of Tony Alison and Milan Roof (61.75). Raymond Rhudd and Nick Tassone scored 62.75 for third in net scoring on account of a better back nine, with fourth place going to Noel Harty and Cickoney Leslie, who also scored 62.75.

Organisers were able to raise $2.4 million towards several charities including the Three Hills Primary school, which will benefit from the installation of perimeter fencing at the institution, the Jamaica Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Hamilton Mountain Basic School and the St Ann Spay Day programme.

Meanwhile, Haye was thrilled to again contribute to the charity efforts of the tournament and while he was not thrilled with his overall play, shared that it presented an opportunity to practise ahead of his competition in Trinidad and Tobago, which takes place from March 14-20.

“Things went pretty well. My usual partner Zandre is overseas so we connected with Carl and pulling off the win today is a great feeling, especially considering that it came with a new partner. That shows that we are capable of taking anyone and going out there and pulling off the win,” said Haye.

“The score was average but how we played today, we could have gone lower but we managed to do just enough to pull off the win.”

“The Trinidad Open is my next big tournament and really, nothing beats practice so coming out here and just by playing it prepares you for any tournament and keeps you in shape for any competition coming up, so I am grateful for that,” added Haye. “But I wasn’t fully pleased. My main complaint today, the main thing that I wasn’t pleased with is the fact that I didn’t come off the tee as I am used to or as I wanted to but I putted and chipped well, which is the key in the scramble format.”

Brown was simply happy to have been given the opportunity to partner with someone he has spent a lot of time playing alongside and was thrilled to get his name in the winners’ column.

“I’ve been playing with Oshane, we basically play everyday on the course so we are not strangers. We knew we have the ability to do what we needed to do to get the win here and I am just happy that we were able to come out on top,” said Brown.

Meanwhile, Tournament Director Sebert Walker lauded the golfing community for its continued support of charity tournaments and believes that the Couples event has the potential to grow beyond 100 competitors at the next staging.

“Overall the tournament gets better and better every year. This year the course was so much better than what we had last year and the players turned out. We had 78 with a few cancellations because of various reasons but overall everything went smoothly and we had some very good scores based on the results,” said Walker.

“Golfers overall, when it comes to charity, there is a family kind of setting and we all rally to help causes that are needed and it’s no different with this tournament. The prizes here are also really good so overall the golf community looks forward to this tournament every year.

“The potential for growth is great, we just need to get it out there early so that persons can know that the tournament is a go and next year we should be able to get to 100 or more players,” Walker added.

Slean Smith-Harris, principal at Three Hills Primary school, welcomed the continued support.

“This means a lot to my school and the entire school community. This is one of our main sponsors and over the years, we have been able to carry through many projects. We received a computer resource centre where we would have received chairs, computers and a building and we have gotten a multi-purpose area. Last year we benefited from a tiling project that covered all classrooms and all bathrooms. This year we are focussing on fencing the property, so we are doing the perimeter fencing and this is a major area that needs to be addressed because safety is one of the main points of concern for schools across Jamaica. It was one of the needs that we had according to the national inspectorate and this will facilitate that process and help us to secure the children both from animals and humans alike,” said Smith-Harris.

Dale Wanliss, vice-president at Fraser Fontaine and Kong shared, “It is part of our mantra, we tend to support any social event that uplifts children and supports our clients in what they do and this golf tournament is one of Couples’ projects for raising funds, we always support this and intend to continue.”

Yvonne Brown Christie won the putting contest while Brown (holes 7 and 4), Tenny Davis (hole 13), Guyan Arscott (hole 2) and Michele McCreath (hole 15) won closest to the pin prizes.

For their efforts, Haye and Brown as well as McCreath and Thomas won separate three-night, Oceanview stays at Couples Tower Isle or San Souci. Other resort stay prizes were handed to the second- and third-place finishers in net and gross scoring, while the fourth-place finishers won Pandora bracelets from Bijoux.