A small but determined group of golfers turned out for a gruelling 54 holes over two days at the Caymanas Golf Club in the Jamaica Golf Association’s Easter Jamboree -WAGR (World Amateur Golf Rankings) and posted some impressive scores.

Each round of golf is normally 18 holes, therefore, 54 holes would normally be played over three days, but the group played 27 holes each day.

Fourteen golfers from across the island and some overseas-based Jamaicans competed in three categories, consisting of seven professionals who battled hot, humid and windy conditions over the two days.

The professional group posted the best set of scores led by Orville Christie. He scored four over par 220 over the three rounds with scores of two under par 70 in round one and three over par 75 in rounds two and three.

He was one of three golfers to post under par scores. The others are pro Sean Green who shot two under par 70 in the final round and overseas-based senior pro Peter Horrobin who shot four under par 68 in the third round.

Christie played his best game during the front nine of the first round when he carded one eagle, three birdies and one bogey for a four under par 32, while his worst game came at the end during the back nine with two double bogeys and a bogey for a five over par 41.

“I must say I am very happy with this win. I actually knew I had a great chance coming into this tournament. I have been practising a lot for the last few weeks and I have seen where my game has improved in certain areas, despite having to play in these hot and humid condition and also having to play 27 holes each day which requires us to be out there more than seven hours. [It] wasn’t very easy at all, but this is how golf is, it tests your mental ability and your ability to focus for long periods; so now I am just trying to keep this momentum going forward and just look towards the remaining tournaments coming up,” said Christie.

Delroy McDonald, with scores of two over par 74, par 72 and nine over par 81, was second with a total score of 11 over par 227. Martin Butt copped third place after posting scores of par 72, and seven over par 79 for rounds two and three for a combined score of 14 over par 230.

The amateurs, who competed in the Men and Men Senior 0-6 handicap went to Dr Mark Newnham with 229 (74, 83, 72) ahead of overseas-based Owen Samuda, who was one stroke back on 230 (81, 74, 75), Damion Spencer another stroke further back on 231 (77, 74, 80) and former national champion Sean Morris on 241 (81, 83, 77).

Newnham did well to recover from the second round eleven over par 83, with an even par 72 for the final round to take the amateur section by just one shot.

He said: “[I am] proud most of all about the way I was able to bounce back from a five-hole stretch early on the second 27 holes when I shot 10 over par. At that point I thought I was out of the tournament. I was able to play the next 22 holes one under par. Happy about that most of all. The win obviously was icing on the cake,” e noted.

The pro seniors turned in scores of par 216 (75, 73, 68) for former national representative and overseas-based Peter Horrobin. Al Robinson was 10 strokes back in second place with scores of 76, 75, 75 for a total score of 226.

Newly installed president of the Jamaica Professional Golf Association Sebert Walker Sr was third. He ended on 31 over par 247 (80, 79, 88).

President of the Jamaica Golf Association Jodi Munn-Barrow praised the collaboration between the two associations.

“This event was exciting because we focused on our elite amateurs and we were able to have them play with the professionals from the Jamaica Professional Golf Association. The scores reflected some good play and it is the foundation that we will build on with further collaboration with the Jamaica Professional Golf Association. This type of collaboration augers very well for the development of golf and we hope that we can continue to do so in each tournament that the Jamaica Golf Association host,” she said.

Going forward there will be many more 54-hole tournaments which will be played over three days (18 holes each day) or two days (27 holes each day) in order to improve the world ranking of Jamaican golfers, which will increase the number of world-rated events that the country can compete in.