Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport
Michael Scott drives at the par four 12 hole during day three of the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championship trials at Cinnamon Hill, Rosehall, St. James yesterday. - CLAUDINE HOUSEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
MONTEGO BAY:
THE PENULTIMATE day of the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championship (CAGC) trials resembled an Easter egg hunt yesterday with many of the competitors scrambling around the bush at Cinnamon Hill looking for their dimpled white orbs.
After two days of warm but relatively benign conditions at the Rose Hall course, the layout bared its teeth - particularly on the hilly back nine as the wind finally picked up and wrecked numerous rounds.
Men's section leaders Owen Samuda, Fabian Campbell and Michael Scott and plucky Xavier Rose handled the conditions best, but no player was able to go below par of 71.
Samuda, the Hoerman Cup qualifying leader after three rounds, shot a three-over 74 for a gross score of 215 (69-72-74) while the find of the event, Fabian Campbell (69-64-75-218), and Scott (76-72-75-223) both finished four over on the day.
TRIPLE-BOGEY
Scott's score was looking substantially better until he came to grief on the final hole with a triple-bogey eight.
Conversely, Rose's day couldn't have started better with an eagle at the par-five first hole.
"I chipped in from just off the green," said Rose, who shot five-over 76 for a gross total of 233 (77-80-76).
"However, after that, I couldn't make a birdie all day," he said. "It was all pars and bogeys. I was just not putting well."
Samuda, Campbell, Scott, Rose and Narada Black (73-80-79-232) are the frontrunners for the five Hoerman berths at August's event to be staged a Cinnamon Hill - barring a late charge or two on today's final day.
Jodi Barrow battled to a nine-over 80 yesterday in the chase for berths on the three-woman George Teale Trophy team, but there was no joy for her three rivals who all shot 90 or more.
Barrow leads the foursome with a three-day gross of 241 (78-83-80) followed by Leiza Blakeley (86-81-92-259), who is battling shin splints, Michiko Asonuma (88-92-90-270) and Maggie Lyn, whose two-round total is 171 (80-91).
Keith Stein came back to earth yesterday with an 81 but his gross score of 229 (71-77-81) is still good enough to lead qualification for the over-35 Ramon Baez Figueroa team. His possible partner, Philip Prendergast, carded an 80 yesterday for a gross of 236 (77-79-80).
In the men's seniors, John Smith extended his massive lead with a solid round of four-over 75 for a three-day total of 230 (75-80-75) and a sure berth on the Francis and Steele Perkins team.
"I haven't played competitive golf for a while but I feel it's coming back slowly," Smith, a mainstay of the Hoerman Cup team for 19 years, said yesterday.
"It was tough today. The fairways were so quick it was hard to hit the ball properly because the clubs bounced through," he said.
Lincoln Williams is Smith's 'closest' rival - a whopping 23 strokes behind after rounds of 88-81-84 for a 253 gross.
Lurking just behind Williams are Fred Sutherland (88-86-81-255) and Larry Bailey (82-90-83-255).
In the super seniors, Harris 'Jolly' Johnson took over the lead from Dennis Atkinson with a round of 76 for a three-day total of 234 (74-84-76). Atkinson dropped to second after a third-day 82 for a gross 237 (77-78-82).
Both remain favourites to form the Higgs and Higgs combination although former Jamaica Golf Association president Ossie Lee (84-80-80-244) is poised for consideration from the CAGC selection committee should Johnson or Atkinson 'blow up' today.
First tee time today is
7:00 a.m.
