Sixteen-year-old junior golfer Rocco Lopez is the day-one leader in the Alliance Buccaneer Memorial Golf Tournament which teed off yesterday at the Caymanas Golf Club in St Catherine.

He shot five birdies and three bogeys to end the day on two under-par 70. He is the only golfer to finish day one on an under-par score.

Lopez was pleased with his performance.

“I feel really good, but there is still room for improvement,” he said.

“Well, the course was definitely different to what I played in Georgia, so I still need to get use to these type of courses, but today [yesterday] the course was playing good and I am looking forward to playing tomorrow [today],” Lopez said in his assessment of the course.

Defending champion William Knibbs was two strokes back on even-par 72 after having a rough start. He recovered after hole number 10 and is now looking forward to today’s play.

“I made a lot of unforced errors the first 10 holes, [but] I started to execute better after that. I ended at even par so I am still in the mix [and] I can’t ask for much more, said Knibbs.

”Knibbs scorecard showed six birdies and one bogey for the last nine holes, while the front nine showed just one birdie, three bogeys and two double bogeys.

Justin Burrowes, the 2018 winner, started the day fairly good and was at one under par at one stage, but closed out at one over-par 73 after the day’s play off eighteen holes.

Another full day of golf is expected today at Caymanas, starting with 7:00 am tee-off time. The golfers are playing in various handicap categories, which includes ladies and juniors.