Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

THE JAMAICA Open returns to the national golf calendar tomorrow after a nine-year hiatus. The Caymanas Golf and Country Club will host the three-day event which will see 30 professional and 40 amateur golfers (in handicap flights) vying for a top prize of US$8,000.

The runner-up will take home US$5,000. The Open will be played as a 54-hole strokeplay and there will be a sudden-death playoff in the event of a first-place tie.

Gordon Hutchinson, president of the Jamaica Golf Association (JGA), welcomed the return of the tournament at a press conference on Monday.

"Today is a big day for the sport of golf in Jamaica.

Today is a big day for all of us who share a dream for Jamaica and its development as a great golfing nation," Hutchinson said.

"The Jamaica Open brings visitors to Jamaica. It brings golfers to Jamaica," he said.

"Golfing visitors spend more per capita on average than the typical stop-over tourist.

As we welcome our overseas participants in this year's Jamaica Open, we are highly aware that they will tell friends and associates on their return what wonderful golfing facilities there are in Jamaica."