By Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport 
The Celebrity Players Tour's (CTP) director of public relations and special projects, Lee Moore, second right, is interviewed at the White Witch course during the recent CTP event here which involved 40 US sport and entertainment celebrities. - Contributed Photo
JAMAICA'S HOPES of becoming a premier golf destination in the region finally appear to be getting on a roll.
The process, which is still very much in its infancy and is being nurtured by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) and a number of (primarily) north coast resorts, received a tremendous boost earlier this month when 40 players from the American Celebrity Players Tour (CPT) took to the White Witch, Cinnamon Hills and Half Moon courses near Montego Bay.
The field which played a pro-am event with amateurs mainly from the United States who paid US$2,500 for the privilege, and then competed in a tournament among themselves during their week-long stay - included baseball Hall of Famers Gary Carter, Rollie Fingers and Mike Schmidt, NFL Super Bowl winning quarterbacks Mark Rypien and Jim McMahon and the star of the Hercules TV series, Kevin Sorbo.
To a man they were delighted with the Jamaican golf experience.
The genesis of the event came from meetings between the JTB and CPT's director of public relations and special projects, Lee Moore, which started last year.
"We have never really staged an event outside of America before and this was a perfect opportunity as Jamaica is looking to promote the island as a golf destination," Moore said. "They have some great golf courses and this was the kind of thing we wanted to do. We are hopefully going to be one of the vehicles (to promote Jamaican golf).
"I was here a year ago in October and some dialogue was opened. Then in January we brought a group of our celebrities and some golf writers down. We all sort of got together had some meetings with the hotel and golf course people and thought the idea made a whole lot of sense for all of us so here we are."
Accompanying the celebrities was a TV crew which will put together a one-hour show and syndicate it to more than 60 million homes in the US and also possibly to the United Kingdom.
"We are certainly looking at making this an annual event and bringing down more celebrities," Moore said of the tour which has about 140 members including basketball great Michael Jordan, former US vice president Dan Quayle and actors Joe Pesci and Bill Murray.
"I think Cinnamon Hill, White Witch, Half Moon and, farther up the road, Tryall are perfect. They have different personalities.
"They rate with any good golf courses we have in eastern North Carolina and South Carolina," he said.
Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are way ahead of Jamaica in regards to packaging their golf product, however, Moore believes it's just a matter of time before Jamaica makes some serious headway in the lucrative market.
"If you start bringing in a lot of people through an affordable package, the benefits are great. The wives will come down with their husbands and shop and shop. If you have everything in place it will do wonders for the country," he said.
Sorbo, fresh from 27 holes last Saturday which comprised nine at each of the neighbouring courses of Cinnamon Hill, White Witch and Half Moon, described his time traversing the layouts as "frustrating and fun".
"I'm a four-handicapper and I shot 12-over today so it was a little frustrating but these courses are great," Sorbo said.
"I live on the northwest coast of the US and play a lot in Hawaii and there are a lot of similarities. However, the biggest difference is that there are no houses. It seems like you are out there on your own in the wild and it's a nice, relaxed feeling," he said.
"I'm coming back."
Carter, the Montreal and New York Mets catcher who was this year inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame, was also impressed with what he saw and experienced.
"The hospitality has been absolutely wonderful. I've never been to Jamaica before, so I was a little surprised by the quality of the courses. They are good tracks, it was just wonderful. I'm hoping to bring my family back here next time," Carter said. "I'm very impressed."
