The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

In breaking new grounds as the first Bahamian golfer to compete in the Pan American Games, Richard Gibson Jr said his experience in Santiago, Chile, last week could be rated an eight out of a 10.

Gibson Jr, with Bahamas Golf Federation president Lynford Miller as his caddie, was a part of an almost 20-member team that represented the Bahamas in swimming, tennis, sailing, wrestling and track and field.

After his four days of competition against a combined professional and amateur field of 30 competitors, Gibson Jr finished with a total score of 297 on Sunday after he posted rounds of 77-72-73-75 to end up in a two-way tie for 27th with Jean Paul Ducruet of Panama.

Abraham Ancer of Mexico took the gold with 267 (68-67-65-67), while the silver went to Sebastian Munoz of Colombia with 268 (66-66-68-68) and the bronze went to American Dylan Menante with 271 (66-69-70-66).

For the 31-year-old Gibson Jr, the operations manager at the Royal Blue Golf Course at Baha Mar, the experience was one that he will never forget, not just because of how he played but the conditions that he played under.

“I was expecting to come and just see golfers. I wasn’t expecting to see athletes from every sport,” he said. “This was something definitely new for me being in an efficiency with all of your countrymen from other sports in a Games Village. It was just crazy.”

Another shocker was when Gibson Jr arrived to start preparing for the competition, he found out that it was more of a pro event with about 22 pros from the golf tours in the region with eight amateurs.

“One of the guys, who I played against in the Corn Ferry event in the Bahamas, I played with, who actually won the event,” Gibson Jr said. “I didn’t get to play with a lot of the pros.

“I really stayed with the same guys for the four rounds. I had one person who I either played with earlier in the week or later in the week. I really didn’t get bounced around that much.”

His performance dictated that and although it was “average,” Gibson Jr said he will take it.

“Due to the fact that the weather was crazy, not to make excuses, but it was too cold for me,” he pointed out. “But overall, I think my performance was decent. It wasn’t great, but due to the circumstances of the weather, it was alright.”

Realising that he struggled more with his putting during the competition, Gibson Jr said he missed a lot of them and that could be attributed to the fact that he added a new putter to his bag about two weeks ago and he really didn’t have a chance to get used to it.

“I don’t feel that was it, but I missed putts that I normally wouldn’t miss, so that probably was it,” he stated. “Putting really killed me during this tournament.” If there was any consolation for Gibson, he was able to interact with a lot of the Bahamian athletes in the Games Village, something that he wouldn’t get to do at home.

“They were giving me some advice on how to market myself as well,” he revealed. “Some of them have already been to the Olympics, so it was nice to hear about their experiences and what it takes to get it.”

During his stay in Chile, Gibson Jr said he missed watching Lamar Taylor pick up his silver medal in swimming or witness the tennis players in action, especially collegian Sydney Clarke, whom everybody talked highly about her performance.

But he said he was there to watch as Rhema Otabor secured the silver in the women’s javelin and Donald Thomas soared to gold in the high jump. He said he was impressed by the performances of the track team, including sprinter Samson Colebrooke.

After he finished his competition, Gibson said he was surprised that so many people were interested in getting his autograph. He called it a “new experience” for him as well.

But he credited a lot of accomplishments to Gina Gonzalez-Rolle, who had always encouraged him to “get it together” because she considered him “the best that we have.”

Gibson Jr will now prepare for the Latin American Championships in January in Panama where he and Nolan Johnson will be representing the Bahamas as the top two ranked players on the circuit.

Miller, who also served as the team manager in Chile, said for the level of competition, Gibson Jr played his best.

“We wanted better. We tried for better, but things just didn’t work that way. It was a very competitive field,” Miller pointed out. “He had some bad breaks and some unfamiliar weather out there, so he had to bear with that and adjusted accordingly.

“But overall, we had a pretty good showing. Everything went very well. We picked up some things that we could learn from and just get adjusted for the next event.”

As a caddie, Miller said he had to adjust to a learning process as well.

“I’ve never experienced being a caddie, walking and giving advice,” he reflected. “I’ve always been a person making up my own mind, so it was a good experience adjusting to somebody else’s experience.”

Having cracked the Pan Am level, Miller said the next step is of course the Olympic Games.

“One of my mandates when I took over as the president was to get a Bahamian in the Olympics,” he stressed. “I think we are still on track for that to happen. We started the process with getting our athletes ranked. You can’t get there if you’re not ranked.

“So we’re working on that. We have a few Bahamians who are ranked. Now that’s happening, we’re checking the next step to see what is necessary for us to get to the Olympics.”

Having gotten his feet wet in competition at the Pan Am Games, Gibson Jr said whatever it takes, he’s willing to go the extra mile to get a chance to compete in the Olympics, if not in Paris, France next, at least in Los Angeles, California in 2028.

He said the experience at Pan Am has just gotten him thirstier for more of the same exposure to the international level of the games’ competition, rather than just going to a golf tournament.