Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport
MONTEGO BAY:
THE HALF Moon golf course picked up where the Caymanas Golf and Country Club's left off and wreaked havoc on the players' scores at the National Trials yesterday.
With one day to go to select a squad from which the Jamaica team for this year's Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships (CAGC) will be chosen, the scores -with the rare exception - have been decidedly ordinary and the usual blustery conditions at the north coast course did little to help things in the penultimate round yesterday.
Jason Garbutt shot a day's best three-over 75 in the men's section to have a three-round gross of 226 (75-76-75) however he is still chasing leader Michael Scott whose 221 gross (75-69-77) sees him with a five-stroke lead going into today's final round at Half Moon.
Veteran Wayne Chai Chong (80-75-77-232) crept up to third with teenagers Paul Thompson (79-76-79-234) and Damion Spencer (73-77-85-235) rounding out the top five ahead of many-time national representative John Smith (79-80-78-237).
The automatic national squad qualifying mark is 304 and only Scott and Garbutt are under the three-round ceiling of 228.
In the Seniors, Dennis Atkinson continued his dominance. Although his nine-over round of 83 was less than inspiring it was good enough to keep his main rivals at bay.
Atkinson's 235 gross (77-75-83) sees him 10 shots clear of Fred Sutherland (78-77-90-245). Hansel Williams (85-79-82-246) and Francis Delgado (81-78-88-247) are in the frame if Atkinson should falter. Atkinson needs a 77 or better today to reach the Seniors' automatic qualifying mark of 312.
Jodi Munn assumed control of the women's section in the absence of second-round leader Maggie Lyn who was unable to take part at Half Moon due to prior commitments. Munn carded a seven-over 79 for a gross total of 242 (82-81-79) and a three-stroke edge over Ava Lee (84-81-80).
The Trials, which are sponsored by Half Moon, Wyndham Rose Hall, Trelawny Beach and Denny's in Sovereign Centre, will be concluded today with the first tee.
