The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THREE of the top young players are sitting on top of the standings after the first two days of competition at two different venues in the Bahamas Golf Federation’s National Amateur Championships.

The tournament, sponsored by Royal Fidelity, serves as the trials for the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships to be held in Dominican Republic July 30 to August 5.

Adding day one scores from Lyford Cay on Wednesday to Thursday’s day two at the Ocean Golf Club, Richard Gibson Jr has surged out front with a total of 149. He shot respective rounds of 75 and 74 on the two courses.

Oren Butler, who led after the first day with a 74, dropped to second with a 77 yesterday for his total of 151, just two stokes behind Gibson Jr.

Sitting in third place is veteran Peter McIntosh, who posted rounds of 81 and 75 for his total of 156. Steven Bain follows closely behind with 157 (78-79).

Horace Miller, competing for a spot on the senior team for the CAGC, is tied for fifth place with Cameron Riley. Miller shot rounds of 83 and 75, while Riley shot 80 and 78. “Today was a better day for me,” Miller said. “It’s a good thing that I know this course a little better than Lyford Cay because the two courses are basically the same.

“The course is in terrible condition, if you ask me, but everybody has to play under the came conditions. I guess nobody has an advantage. I guess it’s who can make more cuts.”

Miller, however, is confident that the scores will be much better when they play at Albany today and wrap up at Baha Mar on Saturday. “So I’m hoping to play much better,” Miller said. “They are different courses.”

The top female player is Inecia Rolle, who is tied with Dominic Greives. Rolle, back home from Chowan University in North Carolina, turned in scores of 83 and 82 for her 165 total.

“For me, the first two days were terrible, but it could have been a lot worse,” said the 28-year-old Conference Carolina Third Team All-American. “My playing standard wasn’t too good.

“Being back home, I’m not used to playing in all this wind, so I had to get adjusted very quickly. I think they just spiked the greens, so when you hit your putts, they bounced. It wasn’t that good to play on.”

With two rounds remaining, Rolle said she too is looking forward to playing much better than she has so far.

The tournament is featuring 15 players from Grand Bahama who came down to make the team.

Ambrose Gouthro, former BGF president and current Northern Bahamas chairman, said the conditions on the two courses were not what they had anticipated and it showed in their results.

“We’re getting hammered. The greens are absolutely atrocious,” he pointed out. “We’re looking forward to Albany and Baha Mar. We played Baha Mar on Tuesday and enjoyed it. We’re looking forward to finishing up there.

“Some of us are playing these courses for the first time. We have some guys who are playing golf in Nassau for the first time. So it’s so bad that they are running into greens that are not in the best shape.”

Gouthro, who is trying for the Super Senior team for the CAGC, is sitting in a two-way tie with Anthony Hinsey for 26 with a total of 179 after shooting rounds of 88 and 91 respectively.

The golfers will tee off at 8 am today at the Albany Golf Club. The tournament will wrap up on Saturday at Baha Mar where the awards ceremony will take place around 4 pm.