Several of Barbados’ junior golfers stole the spotlight at the recently concluded Caribbean International Optimist Junior Golf Championship.
Competing against golfers from Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua and Barbuda, the local players claimed most of the divisional titles at the April 7 to 10 tournament held at the Barbados Golf Club, Durants, Christ Church.
In the girls’ 10-12 flight, Barbadians Kyria Small and N’kah Mayers took the top honours, while hometown girl Mariella Young topped the girls’ 15-18 flight, ahead of teammates Kiara Wilson and Neffertari Alleyne.
Among the boys, Barbadian Connor Proudfoot led the way in the 12-13 flight, with Varin Singh of Trinidad and Tobago second.
Barbados had more success in the 14-15 category, where Joshua Sambrano led the field ahead of Ayo Dells of Antigua, while in the senior boys’ (16-18) Antigua’s Marquise George secured first position ahead of Barbadian Aiden Buchanan.
In the boys’ 10-11 flight , Trinidad and Tobago’s Christophe Ramnarine sealed first place ahead of Taylon Matthew of Antigua.
Speaking to Barbados TODAY, chairperson of the organising committee Faye Wharton-Paris, rated the event very highly.
Chairperson of the organising committee Faye Wharton-Paris (PHOTO CREDIT:Optimist Junior Golf Championship organisers)
“We had excellent participation and everything seems to have gone quite well. I would say that the top prizes predominantly went to members of the Barbados contingent, but we had winners from Antigua and Trinidad as well.
“This is a significant event because the qualifying participants have the opportunity to attend the Optimist International Junior golf tournament in Florida this July, at the Trump Doral golf course,” Wharton-Paris said.
Tournament Director, Trenton Weekes believes the event has shown continuous improvement each year.
Tournament Director Trenton Weekes (PHOTO CREDIT:Optimist Junior Golf Championship organisers)
“We make improvements to make sure that the tournament is run as efficiently as possible and of course, the players they’re happy with the results and happy to be playing at an excellent golf course here at Barbados Golf Club. They’re in good company with other players from around the region and therefore at the end of the day, it’s an excellent package for them,” Weekes said.
According to Weekes, the conditions for the event were also excellent.
“The greens are some of the best I would say in the Caribbean region.
People come here every year and they’re surprised and very pleased with the way the greens are playing and say they’ll be back,” he pointed out.
While Weekes said he was happy with the general state of junior golf on the island, he admitted that there will always be room for improvement.
“Yeah, we’re never totally happy with where we are and would like to add numbers every year. We want to improve on not only our local participation, but we want to get players into the international arena. In that way they can become stars like other golfers, and you would recall only last week, Emily Odwin was very prominent in the news. We want to see more Emily Odwins and we want to see more youngsters coming through,” he said.
