Trinidad open five-stroke ‘Hoerman’ lead

TRINIDAD and Tobago increased their lead in  the Hoerman Cup division of the 47th Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships on the second day at the Tobago Plantations Golf Course yesterday.

Trinidad and Tobago shot a combined 222 yesterday for an overall total of 434 for a five-stroke lead over Puerto Rico (439), who had  a round of 223. Barbados are another seven strokes a drift of the leaders. There were notable under par scores by Juan Campusano (69) from the Dominican Republic, John Streibich (70) from the USVirgin Islands, Trevor Levine (OECS) and Dion Gonsalves (71) from Trinidad and Tobago. The Francis and Steele Perkins Cup division, also in its second day, saw the Barbados pair of Robert Piggot and Ricky Skeete recover from a first day 73 to return a score of 68 yesterday. With an aggregate score of 141, Barbados are now leaders in this division, just one stroke ahead of Dominican Republic and two ahead of Puerto Rico. Trinidad and Tobago are sixth with a total score of 149. Puerto Rico lead the Higgs & Higgs trophy with an aggregate score of 140 over the two days, while hosts Trinidad and Tobago (141) are tied with Cayman Islands one shot off of the lead.

The TT team of Asraph Ali and Teddy Grell had 70/71, and trailing the leaders by only one stroke, they will be trying to regain the lead they held on opening day. In the Ramon Baez division, Puerto Rico’s Mike Santin shot a one under par 71 and remained steady to keep the lead by a comfortable nine-stroke margin. Jamaica, Dominican Republic, USVI and Trinidad and Tobago followed in that order. Barry Ferdinand of Trinidad & Tobago had a 78 yesterday while Arjoon Samlal had 79. Jameica Duncombe of the Bahamas continued her steady play with the lowest score of the day of 74 in the George Teale Trophy after her first round 72, and the Bahamians continued to lead by a widening gap to six strokes ahead of  Muffin Johnson and Jamie Hole of Barbados, Puerto Rico. Cayman Islands and Trinidad and Tobago followed in that order.  Trinidad & Tobago’s Diana Torry scored another 79 yesterday. Puerto Rico stepped up the pace and with very steady play by the various teams; the overall team’s performance has put them in a comfortable 12 point lead over the hosts in the Arthur Ziadie Trophy with Bahamas in third place. Defending champions Puerto Rico will try to pull out all the stops to ensure that their position is preserved, while Trinidad and Tobago will be hard pressed to make up the difference, however with two days to go it is still a wide open field.

Results: Hoerman Cup: 1. TT 222 (D.Gonsalves 71, C.Baynes 74, S.Costelloe 77, C.Hamel-Smith 83); 2. P.Rico 223 (E.Morales 73, R.Rivera 74, M.Alverio and R.Salverio 76); 3. Barbados 223 (J.Johnson 72, C.Leacock 74, D.Boardley 77, S.Stollmeyer 78); 4. D. Republic 224 (J. Campusano 69, J. Fernandez 74, M.Midence 76, O.Guerrero 79); 5. Jamaica 228 (O.Samuda 74, P.Thompson 76, M.Scott 78, J.Garbutt 83); 6.USVI 228 (J.Sreibich 70, M.Graci 77, R.Berkeley 81, Robert Behling 89); 7. OECS 225 (T.Levine 71, C.Alcide 76, E.Edwin 78, I.Hixon 80); 8. Bahamas 231 (S.Bain 76, P.Macintosh 76, K.Turnquest 79, J.Sweeting 79); 9.Cayman Is 245 (A.Geraghty 77, M.Wright 82, O.Burtton 86, T.Moore 87); 10.Turks and Caicos 254 (R.LAvard 81, J.P.Srinark 84, S.Paradis 89 J.Donatien 95)
George Teale: 1.Bahamas 74 (J.Duncombe 74, G.Pyfrom 96); 2.Barbados 76 (M.Johnson 76, J.Hole 80); 3.P.Rico (K.Calvesbert 75, L.Diaz 80); 4.C.Islands 83 (S.Widmer 83, N.Chin-Coe 83); 5.TT 79 (D.Torry 79, M.Torry 80); 6.Jamaica (M.Lyn 82, T.Terrier 90); 7.USVI 81 (C.Colburn 81, A.Bourne-Vanneck 90); 8.Turks and Caicos 85 (T. Glugosh 85, C.Pretorius 85).
Ramon Baez: 1.P.Rico 71 (M.Santin 71, F.Thomas 76); 2.Jamaica 74 (M.Gleichman 74, F.Sutherland 82); 3.D.Republic 77 (153)  (F.Santoni 77); 3. USVI 78 (153) (C.Stancliffe 78,, E.Gittens 91); 5.TT 78 (A.Samlal 79, B.Ferdinand 78); 6.Bahamas 78 (A.Gibson 78); 7.Barbados 78 (M.Haynes 78, D.Blackman 82); 8.OECS 79 (L.Canice 80, T.Verdant 79); 9.C.Islands 80 (R.Woods 80, G.Christie 81).