The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH play suspended due to darkness, Bahamian Georgette Rolle sat tied with two others for 103rd place overall after day one of the 2018 Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic at the Ocean Golf Club, Paradise Island.

Officials sounded the horn at just about 6pm signalling the end of competition with Rolle and her threesome getting ready to play the eighth of the nine holes. She was 8-over-par on the 73-hole course and will have to complete the remaining two holes today before she starts the second round.

Rolle and threesome, along with the group ahead of her, featuring Tiger Woods’ niece, Cheyenne Woods, and the last two groups on the other half of the field, were unable to complete the course. The 12 players will play from the point that they stopped at 7:15am before they begin the second round as originally scheduled.

As she walked off the course, Rolle admitted that it wasn’t the type of performance she anticipated, especially in the windy conditions that hampered most of the players during the latter part of the day. “Today was not my best day,” said Rolle, who is carrying the Bahamian flag in the sixth-year-old tournament for the fifth time. “I didn’t play as well as I expected. I will take some time tonight (last night) and in the morning (this morning) to assess what went wrong and try to make the necessary corrections.”

Rolle, 32, said she missed a lot of putts, which put her in a difficult position on the leader board. But she figure that she will be able to adjust and turn things around. Unfortunately, she expects that the weather will get even worse, which means that she will definitely have to take her game to another level.

“I will spend some time going over what I did wrong today and hopefully get it together,” Rolle said.

The other two players playing in her threesome, PK Kongkraphan from Khonkaen, Thailand, was tied with 31 other players at 2-over-par for 46th place, while Katelyn Dambaugh from Charleston, South Carolina was tied with eight others for 5-over-par for 85th place. Woods, by the way, was tied with nine others at 75 with four-over-par.

Brooke Henderson, who was in the threesome just two spots ahead of Rolle, finished the course just in time to top the leader board with a 5-under-par 68. Defending champion Brittany Lincicome is tied with 19 other players at one-over-par 74 for 26th spot.

Although there was very little support from the Bahamian public to watch Rolle and the other top ranked players in the world perform, about 20 students from Noble Preparatory Academy were in attendance.

Andrew Smith, one of the coaches who assist Geno Nairn, said they wanted to give their students a wider range of diversification in sports, considering that they are known for their basketball prowess.

“This is just a small step for us to bring an awareness of the sport to our school,” he said. “We’ve very passionate about it. That’s why we brought our students out to watch.”

Of course, Smith pointed out that they are cheering for Rolle because “she has to bring it home for us. I have a lot of faith in Georgette.”

But he added that they are also interested in watching Woods perform because of her affiliation with Tiger Woods.