Jamaica’s Ryan Lue posted the lowest score of all the golfers on the Caymanas Golf Course during Wednesday’s first round of the 36th Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Championship (CAJGC).
He carded an impressive five under par 67 which included six birdies and one bogey. The birdies were on holes six, nine, 10, 14, 15 and 17 while the bogey was on hole number two.
Lue was happy with his day one score which he said was the result of patience.
“Patience and preparation. I have been preparing and I just stayed patient today so I produced a pretty good score. I just played my game. I didn’t rush anything. Didn’t try to force birdies or make stupid mistakes on the course. I just kept it going. Took my birdies when they came, made a lot of pars and just happy with my result,” he said.
His nearest rival was Evan Pena of Puerto Rico who was three shots back having score two under par 70. They were the only ones to post under par scores in the found.
The other Jamaicans in the under 18 age group were Aman Dhiman with an even par 72 in third place, followed closely by Trey Williams who was tied for fourth place on one over par 73, as well as Noah Azan 82 in 14th position and Jerone Thomas 86 in 21st place.
Shasa Redlefsen topped the leaderboard in the 11-13 age group after posting seven over par 79 but was just one stroke ahead of Otiz Bayoan of Puerto Rico on 80. Jacob Schnoor occupied the 11th spot with his 104.
Jamaica’s two representatives in the 15 and Under category were in 11th and 15th place respectively. They are Jamal Stewart 84 and Kemari Morris 92. The top three in the category were Kerrington Rolle of the Bahamas 72, Tomas Rodriguez 72 who were tied for first place and Aman Newton 75.
On the girls’ side, Puerto Rico’s Camila Negroni was leading the 18 and Under category after posting three over par 75 in the round. Mattea Issa was five shots back on eight over par 80 in second place.
Negroni was pleased with her performance.
“It feels amazing. I hit my irons really good today. I made a lot of fairways. I am looking forward to tomorrow and making a lot of good shots, making a lot of puts and just fixing what I thought could be better today,” she said.
Jamaica’s lone representative in the 11-13 age group was Alessandra Coe on two strokes off the lead. She ended the round tied for third place with Isabella Ramdeen of Trinidad & Tobago. The leader was Arissa Robinson of the Trinidad & Tobago on 13 over par 85.
Jamaica does not have any representative in the 15 and Under category, however the top three were Madison Carroll-Carlos of the Bahamas 81, Shania Reyes 83 and Mariella Young 83.
Jamaica’s coach Jason Lopez assessed the day’s play.
“There has been some very high level golf. I am very impressed every year. You always see some players that you are obviously familiar with from years gone by and then you see some players you’ve never seen before and you like wow where did this player cone from, which is wonderful because it means that there is talent being developed throughout the region so for me that is a positive,” he said.
“Myself and Johnny (the other Jamaican coach) couldn’t be more pleased. The message we tried to get across to our team was to unweight themselves cause some times playing at home can be an advantage but also there is a lot of expectation. We saw our team very bubbly, very loose, a lot of smiles, a lot of pep in the step and that’s what we asked for attitude wise,” he added.