Ja golfers ready for CAGC

By Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport

Smith

JAMAICA'S LEADING amateur golfers swing into action today at the prestigious Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships (CAGC) in St. Croix, the US Virgin Islands.

Despite facing customary stiff opposition from regional powerhouses Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, playing captain John Smith is upbeat about the team's chances.

"The course (Carambola) is pretty windy but all the teams have to play on it and I've been pretty impressed by how we've practised," Smith, a Hoerman Cup mainstay, said last night.

Smith spearheads the Hoerman team which also includes Owen Samuda, first-timer Michael Scott, late call-up Philip Prendergast and teenagers Paul Thompson and Xavier Rose.

"They (Thompson and Rose) have been great and I will certainly be keeping an eye on them," Smith said.

While keen, realistically, the Hoerman Cuppers will probably struggle through a 'learning experience' at CAGC 2001 leaving Jamaica's best hopes for titles with the women's, seniors' and superseniors' teams.

Maggie Lyn and Caribbean champion Jodi Munn comprise two thirds of the team which won the George Teale Trophy last year. They are joined by Leiza Blakeley this year but face a tough Puerto Rico team which did not attend the 2000 CAGC.

The seniors have under-performed and even been dumped in recent years but the trio of Bill Telling, Dennis Atkinson and Francis Delgado should put in an improved performance this year as they chase the Francis and Steele Perkins Trophy.

Herman McDonald, who was in sensational form at the May's National Trials, will be partnered by Mike Vicens in the oldies' Higgs and Higgs Trophy section.

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