Related items

• Bill Williams nurturing futures one swing at a time through Sandals Care for Kids Junior Golf Programme

  For most children in and around St Ann, golf is more than just a game. Instead it is viewed as a lifeline, a discipline, and an opportunity.

  At the heart of this transformative journey stands Bill Williams, a man deeply committed to changing the lives of young Jamaicans through the Sandals Foundation Care for Kids Junior Golf Programme.

  Williams, the lead professional golfer at the Sandals Golf and Country Club, has for years been dedicated to empowering boys who are at risk of straying down troubled paths, introducing them to the game of golf, not just as a sport but as a means of character building and personal development.

  “I love kids. There’s a duty in me to take care of kids. I always tell myself, if you can grow kids, you grow the country, and you’re growing something good. The guys tell me they love it because I take them off the streets and... them things,” Williams said in a recent interview.

  “I’ve been doing this programme since 2002; that’s when I started. I went into my village where I live in Exchange and I see kids... and I bring them over and [guide] them,” he added.

  Williams sees golf as more than a series of strokes and strategies. For him, it is a way to teach young men about patience, discipline, and respect—qualities that they can carry well beyond the green.

  

  Bill Williams (centre) shares a photo opportunity with members of Team 13 during the Sandals US Travel Advisors Tournament.

  The success stories he tells are numerous, as many of the boys who once faced uncertain futures have gone on to compete at the national level, among them are Zandre Roye, Romaine Evans, and Oshae Haye, just to name a few.

  “I turn out some very good kids out of this thing here. And they are all over the world, global now. There [are] so many kids because I used to do this for eight years on my own before Sandals Foundation came on board. And even though they leave the programme at the age of 18, they still come back here, and I still try to offer advice because there is always room for improvements,” Williams shared.

  Williams is especially enthusiastic about the future of the programme, as funds raised through the three Sandals Travel Advisors Golf Tournaments—Latin America, Canada, and the United States—the programme is set for significant expansion.

  This funding will allow Williams and his team to reach more young men across the island, providing resources to further develop their skills and broaden their opportunities. The latest United States Travel Advisors tournament raised US$800 (about $127,000 Jamaican) for the programme.

  “This is a very important tournament every year for us to get a little extra for the foundation because the kids [have] got to play tournaments and we use the money to fund them. We help who cannot really afford to go to school—we do help with that too. So, I think this programme will go much further and impact more youths,” Williams ended.

• Atlanta force Game 3 against Inter Miami with 94th-minute winner

  Lionel Messi endured an outing to forget as Inter Miami suffered a dramatic 2-1 defeat at Atlanta United, sending their MLS Cup Playoff tie to a deciding third game.

  Having recorded a 2-1 victory at home in Game 1, the Supporters’ Shield winners had a chance to book their place in the Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday.

  However, they were punished for a lacklustre performance at Mercedez-Benz Stadium, only recording two shots on target throughout the match.

  The Herons did take a 40th-minute lead when David Martinez scored a bizarre opener, dinking his shot into an empty net following a slip from Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan.

  However, Derrick Williams headed a 58th-minute equaliser and Atlanta struck the decisive blow four minutes into stoppage time, Xande Silva coming off the bench to fire home from the edge of the box and prevent a penalty shoot-out.

  The teams will now reconvene for a third game next week, with Messi and Miami requiring a home win to keep their campaign alive.

  New York City also forced a decider in their series against FC Cincinnati, clinching a 3-1 home victory with goals from Alonso Martinez, Thiago Martins and Santiago Rodriguez.

  Martinez put them ahead with a cool finish midway through the first half, with Martins adding a deserved second just before the interval, taking advantage of some poor defending to score with a free header at the far post.

  Cincinnati were given hope of a comeback when Luca Orellano curled a wonderful strike into the top-left corner, but Rodriguez converted a stoppage-time penalty to ensure NYCFC kept the tie alive.

  In the last of Saturday’s games, Minnesota United recorded a second penalty shoot-out win over Real Salt Lake in the space of four days to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.

  Joseph Rosales’ placed effort gave Minnesota a second-half lead just four minutes after Brayan Vera’s deflected strike was disallowed for an offside in the build-up at the other end. 

  Emeka Eneli prodded home 15 minutes from time to take the game to spot-kicks, but Real Salt Lake came up short from 12 yards once again, failing to score with three straight kicks in a 3-1 loss.

  Minnesota goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair repelled efforts from Diogo Goncalves and Diego Luna either side of Matt Crooks blazing over the top, allowing Jeong Sang-bin to score the decisive kick for the Loons, who will face the LA Galaxy in the next round.

   

• 57th Jamaica Open Golf Championship launched

  The Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) launched the prestigious 57th Jamaica Open Golf Championship on Thursday at the Constant Spring Golf Club in Kingston. 

  The championship will be held at the picturesque Tryall Golf Club in Hanover for the fifth consecutive year from November 10 to 12 while the pro-am tournament is scheduled for November 9 with an 8:30 am start.

  It will feature the majority of the pros and the amateurs playing in teams, to share skills, generate camaraderie and introduce the course to the overseas based golfers. 

  Sixty players from United States of America (USA), Canada, Trinidad & Tobago, Bermuda, and host country Jamaica have completed their registration already, including the defending champion, professional Andrew Arft of the USA.

  The playing format will be stroke play, 18 holes each day for a total of 54 holes. 

  “We are expecting a very successful event. Based on the entries so far, we have surpassed last year’s numbers. The difficulty we had with this tournament in terms of entries was from the pandemic, the numbers have been rising but have not gotten back to the level that they were,” said organizing committee chairman Peter Chin.

  “We are hopeful every year to increase the prize money because that is what attracts the top professional golfers. The prize money this year if we have a full field is US$110,000,” added Chin.

  The honouree for this year’s event is Johnny Bloomfield who won the Jamaica Open three times.

  JGA president Jodi Munn-Barrow expounded on the choice of Bloomfield as honouree.

  “Johnny is the only one to win three consecutive Jamaica Opens on two different golf courses. He won his first one at Caymanas (2006) and then the last two (2008 and 2009) at Half Moon Golf Course when we had it at Half Moon. So that itself is a feat. Seymour Rose is another three-time winner but not consecutively so we thought it was just right to award him as the honouree this year for that feat.” 

  She said that the Tryall Golf Course was “excellent as usual."

  "I got word from them that they are ready to go. The superintendent is on top of the preparations. The rough will be grown in again like last year so it will make it a little bit more difficult for the pros and the amateurs but Tryall is challenging on its own and if the wind comes up it will be even much harder so I think Tryall is the perfect spot for championships such as the Jamaica Open.” 

  Two of the sponsors, Tourism Enhancement Fund and Sports Development Foundation were represented by Dr. Carey Wallace and Alan Beckford respectively. They endorsed the open. 

  Wallace, executive director of TEF said “golf tourism is of course an important diamond amongst diamonds that we have here in Jamaica and so investing in this tournament which is an international tournament, in fact it is the number one international tournament here in Jamaica for golf. We believe that it is necessary for us to support the outstanding associations, stakeholders that are putting it together for them to have the resources to take it to higher levels.”

  Beckford, the SDF’s general manager said “the Sports Development Foundation has historically supported the sport of golf and it goes more than just supporting the golf federation. We also have had a summer camp that we have supported in collaboration with Insports and we have had this camp for a number of years where we have students from the community around Caymanas Golf Course coming out to participate in the camp. We have sponsored a pro-am tournament a couple of years as well too so we see golf to be a very important sport among the sports in Jamaica. We think it’s an excellent sport and we wish them the best with this tournament.” 

  Aqua Bay Resort returns as presenting sponsor for the fifth consecutive year. The major sponsors include the TEF, Tryall, JTB, Jamaica Tours, Grand Palladium, SDF and Vybwear while the product sponsors are Wata, Juici Patties, Café Blue, Honey Bun and Rainforest.