More than 60 golfers teed-off at the Caymanas Golf Club in St Catherine for the first Jamaica Golf Association's (JGA) qualifier for 2023.

Tee-time was 7:30 am.

A special feature of this year's tournament is that the eight competitors in the Men & Men Senior 0-6 (WAGR) category will play 54 holes over the two days in a bid to gain world amateur golf ranking points.

The Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) got approval last year to play 54 holes over two days instead of the normal three days in order to gain ranking points from the R&A and the USGA (Royal & Ancient Golf Club, Unites States Golf Association).

This will allow them earn ranking points quickly and able to participate in more tournaments across the region and the world that are open to ranked golfers.

Two of the local golfers that have world golf ranking points are Justin Burrowes (347) and William Knibbs (741). Both were invited to play in this year's Latin America Amateur Golf Championships in January as the two highest ranked amateur golfers in Jamaica at the time.

In this weekend’s tournament Burrowes, who is the defending champion, expects to be tested by the format.

"I am looking forward to get going this weekend. I haven't played a 54-hole tournament in two days since this tournament last year so I am looking forward to the test,” he said.

“Expectation-wise I try to keep it very simple. I just want to go out and execute as best as possible and count the scores at the end.  It’s going to be long but I think it provides a good test and it will show me where my game is at and where I need to improve on.

“I feel like I have worked on some of the areas where I have been weak on in the last six months so I am looking forward to put that to the test in a tournament and we will see how that goes."

The other six golfers who will compete in the Men & Men Senior category are Sean Morris, Zandre Roye, Trey Williams, Tenny Davis, Robert Sterling and Wayne Chai-Chong.

Roye and Knibbs placed second and third, respectively, in last year's tournament.

The remainder of the golfers on the course will play 36 holes over the two days.

The will play in several categories including Men & Men Senior 0-6, Men & Men Senior 7-12, Men & Men Senior 13-24, Men Super Senior 0-12, Men Super Senior 13-24, Masters, Junior Boys 18 and Under, Junior Boys 14-15 and Junior Boys 11-13.

Jodie Mun-Barrow is the defending Ladies champion.