BRIDGETOWN, Barbados:
A HORRENDOUS front nine holes plus a near two-hour rain delay just when it looked like Jamaica were getting their game together relegated the team to 24th and last place at the World Golf Championships' Barbados World Cup at the Sandy Lane course yesterday.
Starting the day paired with Denmark's Thomas Bjorn and Sven Hansen in the two-ball format, Jamaica's Peter Horrobin and Delroy Cambridge could not have got off to a worse start when they bogeyed the first three par-four holes and then holes six, seven and nine.
A rally appeared in progress at the turn with birdies at 10 and 11 but then the heavy rains came and washed away any hopes of a revival.
Lost momentum
Upon resumption, the pair immediately bogeyed 12 and the momentum was gone.
They capped a woeful day with bogeys on the last three holes for a nine-over 80 and a gross score of 11-over 295, which was six shots behind 23rd-placed Japan.
In the four-ball format where a player plays his own ball and the best score counts per hole, Jamaica were a reasonable three-under 139 (72-67) at the par-71 course but in the two-ball competition, where the players hit one ball alternately, they were a disaster - shooting a miserable 14-over 154 (76-80).
We just kind of gave up at the end there," a disappointed Horrobin said after the day's worst round.
"The conditions were tough from the start - it was all rain. Everybody that teed off early played in the rain but they made adjustments and we just kept getting worse and worse," he said.
Addressing the team's two-ball woes, Florida-based Horrobin said: "Once you miss the fairway one time you start thinking about your partner because if he doesn't hit a good shot out of the rough you start thinking negative."
Cambridge agreed but added the duo had another problem yesterday as well.
"It was a very disappointing day. We just didn't make any putts," the 57-year-old who somewhat tongue-in-cheek said on Saturday that a score of 60 was not out of the question - he was only out by 20.
Still, for their efforts the Jamaicans share US$40,000 in prize money.
- T.G.
