Defending champion Andrew Arft is ready to tee off in pursuit of a consecutive Jamaica Open title as he begins his campaign on Sunday at the Tryall Golf Club. If successful, Arft would become the first player since Russ Cochran in 2011 and 2012 to claim back-to-back victories at the prestigious event.

After playing in the Pro-Am tournament on Saturday, Arft shared his comfort with the Tryall course, noting that the layout feels familiar. “I feel really well. I was out on the course today, just remembering the course and seeing it,” he said. “It kind of feels comfortable on the tee shots, and I had a great Pro-Am group from Palladium. They kept it light and fun, which was great.”

Despite a few changes in course conditions compared to last year, Arft expects the challenge to remain formidable. “It’s going to be windy. The course is wet compared to last year, which was firmer,” he observed. “It’s a give and take thing. The course might play a bit easier since the balls won’t bounce everywhere, but we won’t get as much roll on the fairways, so there’ll be longer shots in. Less balls will bounce into tricky spots, but it will still play just as hard as last year, just in a different way.”

Arft also highlighted that it’s the welcoming atmosphere of Jamaica that motivated him to return. “It’s more of the people than anything. The golf course is top notch and I love it, but right when I step foot in the airport – different type of niceness around here,” Arft remarked. “Everyone is really cordial and laidback, and I definitely feed off the people’s energy. When I have good people around me, I feel good as well.”

As Arft prepares to defend his title, he’ll be leaning on his familiarity with Tryall’s unique challenges and the supportive environment that Jamaica offers, aiming to add his name to the short list of champions who have won the Jamaica Open in consecutive years.

 Team Palladium emerged victorious in the Pro-Am tournament ahead of the 57th Jamaica Open Golf Championship at Tryall Golf Club on Saturday, outplaying 19 other teams to claim the top spot. Each team in the competition comprised three amateur golfers paired with one professional, making for an exciting lead-up to the official championship.

Led by pro golfer Scott Milum, Team Palladium, which included amateurs Carlyle Hudson, Diane Hudson, and George Hugh, scored an impressive 51.25 points, finishing exactly two points ahead of the runners-up.

Reflecting on the win and his first experience in Jamaica, Milum shared his enthusiasm for the course and the hospitality at Tryall. “It is an awesome place to play. It’s my first time actually in Jamaica as well, so playing in the Pro-Am, playing the tournament this week I am looking forward to it. The area is beautiful, and the resort here takes really good care of us, getting us to and from the golf course. Everyone we met so far has been phenomenal,” he said.

The second-place team, led by pro golfer Joshua Seales, finished with a score of 53.25 points. Not far behind, the team led by pro Patrick Coles claimed third place with 53.375 points.

Jamaica Fibre Glass Products took the corporate title with a score of 55.25 points, thanks to the combined efforts of team members Metry Seaga, Mike Glieckman, Andre Foote, and Marcus Mohn.

In the “Closest to the Pin” contest, three golfers earned recognition: Benjamin Martin on hole two, Wayne Chai Chong on hole four, and Chris McLean on hole 10.

With the Pro-Am tournament now complete, attention turns to the main event. The three-day 57th Jamaica Open will tee off on Sunday, November 10, at 8:00 a.m., with defending champion Andrew Arft set to begin his title defense at 10:40 a.m.

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.

American Andrew Arft led all three days to capture the 56th Jamaica Open Golf Championship at the Tryall Golf Course in Hanover.

Arft posted scores of six under par 66, even par 72, and one under par 71, for a combined score of seven under par 209. He expressed pleasure with the win while giving credit to his caddy Jason Richards for helping him to win the event on his first attempt.

He also pointed out that his late decision to enter the championship was justified, as he pocketed the US$20,000 top prize.

Second place went to Dominic Piccirillo, who was just one shot back on 210. He posted under par scores of 71, 71 and 68 for all three days, while Josh Anderson was relegated to third place on 211 along with Blake Wagoner (72,70, 69).

The top six golfers in the professional category are all Americans.

Jamaica's Sean Morris roared back from second place on the second day to take the amateur section ahead of Oshae Haye. They were joint leaders on the first day.

Morris ended on 17 over par 233 (75, 82, 76), while Haye was two strokes back on 235 (75, 78, 82). Junior player Trey Williams grabbed third place on 245 (78, 81, 82).

Chris Richards of Trinidad & Tobago won the Senior Pro section for the second year running with a total score of two over par 218 (70, 76, 72). Second went to Canada's Kent Fukushima on 222 (74, 78, 70), while Jamaica's Ian Campbell was third on 240 (80, 79, 81).

The final category, the Senior Amateur section went to Canada's Robert Sterling who had a combined score of 244 for the three days. Jamaica's Dr. Mark Newnham and Dr. William Lee were second and third with scores of 245 and 250, respectively.

About 100 golfers are expected to compete for US$100,000 in prize money when the Jamaica Golf Association’s (JGA) 55th Jamaica Open Golf Championship tees off at Tryall Golf Club from Saturday, November 12-Tuesday, November 15.

This year, the tournament will honour the late Seymour Rose who won the Open in 1977, 1982 and 1987.

“Seymour is really one of the icons of Jamaica’s golf and we don't want to forget him,” said JGA member Gordon Hutchinson at the launch on Wednesday.

“We want to remember him. We want him to be associated with Jamaica Open for a long time.  His name will always be there on the records as a past winner.  Seymour was outstanding because he was such a gentleman, in addition to being a golfer.  He did a lot for young golfers coming up.  He was a very humble person and you can approach him anytime and he would assist you irrespective of who you are.”

Meanwhile, Vice-President of the JGA Dr. Mark Newnham, said the association managed to overcome the challenges associated with the pandemic to make this year’s tournament possible.

"We are just so proud, so excited to host this championship,” he said.

“We struggled a little bit with staging this during Covid.  Our protocols are going to be a little bit more relaxed this time and we couldn't be happier to stage this our 55th event.  The Jamaica Open is our premier event."

With the start less than a month away, Chairman of the organizing committee Peter Chin said everything is going according to plan and they are expecting up to 100 golfers to compete at the tournament.

"We are very happy with where we are now, all the plans are in place, so far so good.  We have sponsorship in place. We have the golf course in place.  We have players who are registering and paid their entry fees,” he said.

“So far we have 65 players and we are hoping to reach to 100 by tournament day.  We are happy that a number of the past winners are coming back; Michael Maguire, who won last year, and Patrick Cover who won the year before.  Both players have graduated to the Korn Ferry tour but they seem to have a liking to the Jamaica Open so they are coming back to play."

The tournament is being sponsored by Aqua Bay, Tourism Enhancement Fund, SDF, Tryall Golf Course, JTL Jamaica Tours Limited, Digicel Business, Jamaica Producers, Rain Forest, Wisynco, Barita and First Rock.

The three-day Jamaica Open Golf Championship set to tee-off on Sunday, November 14, will be held in honour of the late Jasper Markland, it was announced at a Jamaica Golf Association press conference earlier this week.