Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
Golfers from the United States, numbering 165, will arrive in the island to compete in Travel and Leisure GolfMagazine's inaugural Jamaica Invitational Pro-Am "Annie's Revenge" tournament along Montego Bay's golden corridor, starting tomorrow.
A joint venture between the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and Travel and Leisure Golf Magazine, the competition will see both professional and amateur golfers teeing off on three of the island's best golf courses.
"It is a four-night, five-day event which starts on Wednesday (November 08)," said director of marketing, Travel and Leisure Golf Magazine, Thomas M. Jaronski.
"We call these types of events Travel and Leisure Golf destination events and what they are designed to do is really showcase the destination in which they take place."
According to Jaronski, the event is split into two segments - the VIP Tournament, which is geared towards the more relaxed players; and the Championship Tournament, in which the golfers will compete for a US$15,000 (approximately J$975,000) winning prize.
"We have 165 players, 40 guests of participants, 40 VIPs/sponsors and 20 staff".
There are 42 teams made up of four players, three amateurs and one club professional. The pros will compete against each other, as well as part of their team," Jaronski said.
"It is a 54-hole tournament. We divide the group in half so you will have 21 teams playing White Witch on Thursday and 21 teams playing Half Moon and then they will flip-flop for the second round on Friday," he continued.
On Friday, the top 21 teams after 36 holes will return to White Witch on Saturday for the Championship round, while the bottom 21 will go to Half Moon where they will play in the challenge round.
Championship round
Golfers in the championship round will compete on a 54-hole basis, while the challenge round participants will start from scratch and play an 18-hole competition for three places.
A multi-million dollar affair, the event which has a slew of sponsors such as Oxford Golf, Subuster, GustBuster, amateurgolf.com and Jack Daniell's Single Barrel is made possible through a two-year agreement with the JTB.
"It is a two-year agreement with a third-year option where we organise the event through all the public and private golf clubs in the United States," explained Marcia Bullock, JTB regional director groups and conventions, who added that the event was "a part of the Jamaica Tourist Board's ongoing effort to promote Jamaica as a golf destination."
Media outlets, Golf radio, a half hour show that is nationally syndicated in the United States and Sirius Radio, will also be attending the tournament and will conduct broadcasts from the tournament on Saturday.
