SATURDAY, October 4, saw the staging of the Jamaica Golf Association’s (JGA) Junior Golf Scramble, at Constant Spring Golf Club.

The tournament had a shotgun start, with several categories of juniors and adults playing together. A sunny morning brought out many participants, and some families were represented by three generations of golfers, in one case ‘grandma’ was caddying. That suggested full involvement by the golfing ‘family’ and a good sense of fun.

The many willing adult golfers were wonderful mentors for younger players, some of whom were in their first tournament. The adults also got into the fun of playing and seeing their good shots and good shots made by the youngsters. The children had fun, and when they hit a good shot or sank a putt they were ecstatic! That’s how golf should be.

Of course, things were not always straightforward. One group had an unwilling golf cart that needed pushing from the time it crossed the driving range on the way to hole four, and was really only happy going downhill. Everyone had to help push it up the slope from hole three to four. What a start! That kind of distraction is not usually good for focus, but the group affected dealt with it.

The field was made up of about 50 players, almost equally juniors and adults. Several prominent junior players were absent, affected by one of several viral infections currently affecting the island. Nevertheless, the strong showing of juniors was impressive.

The main reason for the tournament was to provide a fitting venue for the unveiling of a new logo for the JGA’s junior golf programme. The golfing community is hoping that this start will serve as a catalyst for more support of the development of junior golf.

The final results of the JGA Junior Golf Scramble were as follows.

100-yard category

1st place – Brandon Barrow/Jodi Munn-Barrow (64)

2nd place – Taylor Barrow/Gordon Munn (72)

3rd place – Mattea Issa/Crystal Gayle (72)

150-yard category

1st place – Dillon Vaz/Wayne Vaz (69)

2nd place – Ethan Moore/Rowena Coe (76)

200-yard category

1st place – Pierce Azan/Ian Christie (67)

2nd place – Dmitri Moore/Ian Moore (70)

3rd place – Trey Williams/Alison Reid (76)

4th place – Noah Azan/Shelly Hendrickson (77)

5th place – Louis Reynolds/Phil Reynolds (82)

6th place – Matthew Grant/Diane Hudson (83)

9-Hole category

1st place – Matteo Hui/Chris Cruz (73)

2nd place – Rocko Lopez/Bruce Lopez (73)

3rd place – Aman Dhiman/Vikram Dhiman (76)

4th place – Brady Holmes/Pierre-John Holmes (77)

5th place – Sebastian Azan/Justin Murray (80)

18-Hole category

1st place – Danielle Morris/Sean Morris (64)

2nd place – Tristan Brown/Sebastian Ogden (67)

3rd place – Johan Campbell/Dwight Morin (72)

4th place – Zandre Roye/Barbara Felice (75)

5th place – Justin Burrowes/Warren Burrowes (75)

6th place – Jonathan Morris/Teddy Richards (76)

7th place – Elric Li/Ting (77)