Rising stars Justin Burrowes and Emily Mayne have been named among a 12-member team that will represent Jamaica at the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships, scheduled for August 8-13 in Puerto Rico, where they will compete for the Hoerman Cup and George Teale Trophy, for men and women, respectively.
The team boasts a mixture of experienced and new players and consists of six men and four women as well as two reserve players, who only travel to play if one of the named team members is unable to play.
The six-member men’s team comprises Burrowes, William Knibbs, Mark Newnham, Rocco Lopez, Shamar Wilson and Owen Samuda. Sebert Walker Jr. is the reserve player. The four-member female team is comprised of Mayne, Kai Harris, Tiana Cruz and Hannah Foster. Jodi Munn-Barrow is the reserve player.
Burrowes is coming off a very successful national senior trials in which he shot the lowest one-day score of 68 to end on par 288 over the four days, three strokes ahead of runner-up William Knibbs. He believes the Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) has selected a strong team.
“I think it represents Jamaica's top golfers right now in the country. I feel like we have the talent, we have all the tools it takes. I think we have a great blend of players on the team,” he said.
“I feel like we all get along very well, especially with Dr Newnham on the team; having that team experience and he's done it a couple of times before, definitely more than I have, whether it's Hoerman Cup, or just representing Jamaica.
“I think that he definitely has been doing it for the longest and just carrying that experience and carrying that to the younger players, I feel like that will just inspire confidence in myself and Rocco, who is younger than us, and William, who is a little older. I feel like we just have a good blend and that's definitely one of the key things for performing well - just having a good team blend and a good team spirit.”
Mayne won the female section of the national trials with a combined score of 316 which included the best round of five-over-par 77 on the last day. She is preparing for some tough competition but expects the team to do well.
"I am looking forward to the tough competition at the CAGC and am also excited to play alongside the other three girls,” she said.
“Although I am the youngest on the team, I am just focused on preparing myself to do my absolute best and stay consistent. We have a great team so I believe that with teamwork and determination we can do very well."
European Tour breakthrough win in sight as Laurie leads at a Canter
Laurie Canter powered three shots clear at the Andalucia Masters to put himself within touching distance of completing a €1million season on the European Tour.
The 31-year-old Englishman finished tied for second at the BMW PGA Championship in September, and now a maiden victory on the tour is a realistic target.
A roller coaster four-under-par 67 in the third round allowed Canter to ease clear of the field and reach seven under through 54 holes, with Matt Fitzpatrick in second place after a one-under 70.
Canter had eight birdies and four dropped shots in his round, but the score of the day was achieved by American David Lipsky, who shrugged off a bogey at the first and went on to make eight birdies on the way to a 64, seven under par.
That put Lipsky on three under overall, in third place, with organisers stating his efforts matched the lowest round in the tournament's history, previously achieved in 2017 by Daniel Brooks and in 2018 by Sergio Garcia.
Canter, who hails from Bath, will be wary of players behind him shooting such a low score on Sunday, but he will have few better chances to win a tournament.
In 2019, Canter played just five events on the tour and won a mere €11,059, but two runner-up finishes last year put him in a far healthier position with €498,991 in earnings, and now Canter is close to breaking the seven-figure mark in a season for the first time.
The €485,000 on offer to the winner at Valderrama on Sunday would send Canter soaring through that mark, and he likes the look of his cushion.
"I think what it means is I can go out tomorrow and play how I have these last couple of days," Canter said, quoted on the European Tour website.
"The score I end up on will be competitive, I think. That gives me a lot of confidence going in. The course is asking a lot of different challenges and you can’t dwell when it goes against you. I’m trying to stay as level as I can and I’m doing a good job."
Those in the five-player group on two under will remain hopeful of a Sunday surge, and among them is the halfway leader Romain Langasque. The Frenchman went backwards on Saturday after a disappointing 73, but may not be out of contention.
Alongside Langasque in a share of fourth place is Austrian Ryder Cup player Bernd Wiesberger, plus Min Woo Lee of Australia, Sweden's Sebastian Soderberg and Italy's Renato Paratore.
Record-setting Mitchell soars to CJ Cup summit, Spieth five back
Keith Mitchell built a commanding five-shot lead entering the weekend following another impressive round at The CJ Cup.
Mitchell carded an eight-par-under 64 to soar to the top of the leaderboard after the second round in Nevada on Friday.
The one-time PGA Tour champion dazzled with a first-round 62 and the American backed that up by holing an eagle, seven birdies and just one bogey.
Mitchell is the player to beat at the halfway stage after setting a new tournament 36-hole record at 18 under.
"I spent a lot of time in the last few days leading up to this tournament working hard on my game and it's showing," said Mitchell, whose lone victory came at the 2019 Honda Classic.
"I'm very thankful for that. Just shows you that hard work pays off as long as you're doing the right things."
Former world number one Jordan Spieth (65), Kim Seong-hyeon (63), Harry Higgs (67) and Adam Scott (63) are Mitchell's nearest challengers at 13 under heading into Saturday's penultimate round.
Spieth made his move late in the day with four birdies in five holes to earn a share of second position, while another former world number one – Scott – enjoyed a red-hot finish to his day after going birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie-par-birdie-eagle in his last seven holes.
Scott's second round included a career-high 14 one putts, having played the final seven holes eight under – his best seven-hole stretch to close a round on Tour.
Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy (67) shot his second round in the 60s to move into a tie for 19th position, nine shots behind Mitchell – alongside Abraham Ancer, who made an albatross on the par-five 14th hole, while Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama (70) and two-time CJ Cup champion Justin Thomas (67) are a stroke further back.
American star Brooks Koepka lost ground following his two-under-par 70 which left him seven under, while Dustin Johnson bounced back from his opening-round 74 with a 66.
'Why label our players?' - former Reggae Boyz keeper insists there should be no difference between local, foreign-born players
Former Jamaica Reggae Boyz goalkeeper Ryan Thompson has questioned the practice of labelling the country’s national representatives as foreign-based or English-based in light of questions regarding the team’s unity.
In recent months, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has looked to bolster the experience and quality in the team’s ranks by extending an invitation to players who qualify to represent the country by virtue of having Jamaican heritage. Several players have accepted the offer but the team's overall integration has not gone smoothly.
The situation was similar to the team’s historic 1998 campaign when a mix of players, some based in Jamaica and English players of Jamaica heritage qualified the unit for the tournament in France. Ahead of its historic feat, there had also been controversy surrounding the inclusion of the players who were based abroad.
Internationally, players opting to represent countries where they were not born is hardly an unusual situation. The likes of Gonzalo Higuain, Christian Benteke, and Raheem Sterling, who was born in Jamaica but represents England, are among just a few who feature on the list.
As it relates to the current crop, however, Thompson believes the aim must be to get the team to gel as soon as possible, a goal that having player labels and categories is unlikely to help.
“If we can get the team to gel and call everyone Jamaican and not local based or foreign-based or English based, whatever it is, that’s when we will really be able to do some damage in the world, not just the Caribbean,” Thompson told TVJ Sports.
‘You don’t hear the German team talking about, oh this guy was from Austria or the US saying the same thing about German-based players. They're Americans, why are we throwing labels on our players?”
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