Jamaica’s golfers had a solid first day at the 66th Caribbean Amateur Golf Championship at the Magdalena Grand Resort in Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday.
Rocco Lopez led the charge for the six-member male team, finishing one over par 73. William Knibbs, Zandre Roye, Justin Burrowes, and Ryan Lue ended the day at three over par 75. Aman Dhiman followed five strokes behind at eight over par 80.
Lopez found himself in a three-way tie for third place on the leaderboard. Knibbs, Roye, Burrowes, and Lue shared the 10th place with three other golfers. Dhiman, on the other hand, was tied for 32nd place alongside three other competitors.
At the top of the leaderboard was Max Alveno from defending champion Puerto Rico, scoring four under par 68. Evan Pena, also representing Puerto Rico, ended the day in second place with a score of one under par 71.
The Jamaican men are trying to improve on their fourth-place finish from last year and are eyeing their first victory in the Hoerman Cup.
Junior player Mattea Issa was ahead of the other three ladies on the Jamaica team. She posted seven over par 79 and is tied for sixth place with Inyoung Yoo of the Dominican Republic.
Jodi Munn-Barrow, president of the Jamaica Golf Association, was three strokes back on 10 over par 82 in eighth place. Junior player Emily Mayne followed closely behind Munn-Barrow with a score of 11 over par 83, placing her in ninth position. The youngest and newest member of the team, Anoushka Katri, scored 29 over par 101 and ended the round in the 17th position.
The top three female golfers at the end of round one were Holly McLean from the Cayman Islands and Yae Eun Kim from the Dominican Republic, both tied for first place with one over par 71. Paola Rosario from Puerto Rico finished the day in third place with a score of three over par 75.
The golfers are set to tee off at 8:00 am on Thursday for the second round of the three-day championship.
