The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE first event of the Bahamas Golf Federation’s “Cup Series” will aid the development of the organisation’s junior programme and the fight against breast cancer.

The Paradise Island Open, presented by the Atlantis Resort and the Ocean Club Golf Course, is all set to be hosted September 3-4 at the Ocean Club facilities.

The tournament format will feature two-day individual stroke play in the following divisions: Men’s – Gross, Net, Senior (50+) and Super Senior (60+), Ladies, Ladies Senior (50+) and Juniors (-17).

Said Lloyd Jones, operations manager at the Ocean Club Golf Course: “This will help the junior golfers and the fight against breast cancer. Last year we did it a little later in the year, but we are hoping for the same amount of numbers. We encourage you to sign up sooner rather than later because we are looking forward to making this event a success.”

Final registration takes place at 11am on tournament day and play will begin with a 12:30 shotgun start.

The registration fee is $275 per adult player for both days of play and $150 for juniors. Awards are guaranteed for the first three positions in each division - closest to the pin and longest drive competitions.

Agatha Delancy, chairman of the BGF Ladies’ Division, said the Paradise Island Open will set the tone for the remainder of the series. “Contingent upon this tourney, BGF president Glen Archer and his committee will use this to launch the Cup Series. That series is  a number of tourneys the BGF will hold over the course of the next few months leading to the overall winner, much like the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup,” she said.

“So the first in this series will be the Paradise Island Open. The next event in this series would be the Lyford Cay Cup and the Albany Cup. So, at the end of this series a winner will be declared.”

Proceeds from day one will benefit the BGF junior programme while day two benefits breast cancer awareness.

Georgette Rolle, secretary of the BGF and the principle trainer in the junior development programme hosted at the Baillou Hills Complex Driving Range,  said her focus nowadays is on junior golf. “I’m spending about 90-95 per cent of my time teaching junior golf and I love it. Our youth programme is going really well. We start this upcoming week with our regular classes, we have upcoming tournaments and skills competitions coming up and we’re excited for it,” she said.

“On our current roster we have about 40 kids enrolled. Thankfully, Mr [Craig] Flowers has been working hard to keep the facility going to make the game more accessible and thankfully we can have our classes there, the kids are enrolled for a reasonable price and myself and the instructors get an opportunity to work with them and keep the game going. There is a lot of talent there, from kids whether they play other sports or they only play golf.”

Ahead of the tournament, players can also register via e-mail to robbie.leming@atlantisparadise.com, victoria.bethell@atlantisparadise.com or lloyd.jones@atlantisparadise.com by providing their name, GHIN number and division.