Mattea Issa improved her lead over former national female golf champion Emily Mayne by three shots after scoring one over par 73 on the second day of the national senior trials to Mayne's four over par 76. Issa's combined score of five over par 149 is eight strokes ahead of Mayne's 157. 

Issa was very pleased with her second round score card which showed a birdie and a bogey on the front nine and just one bogey on the back nine. She was even par up to the 13th hole, then she dropped the bogey on the 14th.  Now five strokes ahead she is well positioned to top the female section of the senior trials for the first time.

Mayne's scorecard showed four bogeys and a double bogey but she had two birdies which cut her second round deficit to four. She still had a reasonable day on the course as she was even par up to hole number 14 but had a double bogey on 15 along with bogeys on 17 and 18. She has it all to play for on Sunday's final day of the trials but came in with some confidence as she had a very successful collegiate season which saw Howard University winning the championship.

Last year's national champion William Knibbs and the 2022 national champion Oshae Haye were joint leaders at the end of the second round after both golfers scored five over par 77s for the round. Their two-day scores were four over 76 and 77, respectively, for a total of nine over par 153. They were in joint second play at the end of the first round.

Dr. Mark Newnhan, Ryan Lue and Shamar Wilson all share the third spot with combined scores of 154 each after scoring 75, 75 and 76, respectively, in the second round.

First round leader Rocco Lopez scored 14 over par 86 in his second round for a total of 14 over par 158. He is the only golfer to post an even par score (72) so far, which he did in the first round.

Current national champions, Zandre Roye dropped from joint second (76) to seventh place after posting eight over par 80 in the second round. He will start the third and final round on 12 over par 156 but just three strokes behind leaders Knibbs and Haye.

The golfers will tee off at 9:00 am on Sunday aiming to qualify for a spot on the team to represent Jamaica at the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championship in July.

Sixteen-year-old Ryan Lue and Jodi Munn-Barrow are the early leaders at the National Senior Trials which teed off on Friday at the Half Moon Golf Course in St. James. The trials will be used to select Jamaica’s team for the 66th Caribbean Amateur Golf Championship.

Lue posted two under-par 70 to be the only golfer to post an under-par score at the end of the first round.

His scorecard showed three birdies on the front nine on holes two, eight and nine for a three under- par 33.

He then started the back nine positively with a birdie on hole number ten and was four under par at that point but was pegged back by two bogeys on holes fifteen and seventeen, to close the round with a three-stroke lead over Zandre Roye. 

Roye scored one over par 73 for his second place at the end of the round. 

Former national golf champion, Sean Morris, was a close third on two over-par 74 but four strokes off the lead. 

The 2022 national golf champion, Oshae Haye, was not far off on 75. 

The current national golf champion, William Knibbs, and Dr. Mark Newnham were holding down the fifth spot on four over par 76 each. 

The top two ladies on the course were closely bunched together and are within one shot of each other. The Jamaica Golf Association president Jodi Munn-Barrow was on nine over par 81 while Mattea Issa was in second place on ten over par 82. 

"Conditions were very difficult today. A lot of rain has fallen in Montego Bay so the course was extremely wet. While we were playing there was rain so it was very, very hard condition to play under but overall happy with the outcome. Did leave some on the course but look forward to tomorrow" said Munn-Barrow. 

The other female in the field was Anoushka Khatri who posted 93 for third place. 

The golfers are set to tee off at 9:30 am Saturday for the second round.