William Knibbs and Jodi Munn-Barrow copped the top trophies in the 26th staging of the Alliance Buccaneers Memorial Golf Tournament at the Caymanas Golf Club last week Sunday.

It was Alliance Investment Management’s 14th-consecutive year of sponsorship of the event.

One hundred and two golfers from across the island descended on the Caymanas Golf Club on Saturday for tee times beginning at 8:30 am, with Zandre Roye leading the Men & Men Senior 0-5 section at the end of the first day after scoring three over par 75. Munn-Barrow led the Ladies 0-12 section with a similar score.

William Knibbs, the 2019 winner, who scored six over par 78 on day one, roared back with a one over par 73 on day two for a combined total of seven over par 151 to take the overall trophy ahead of Dr Mark Newnham. Knibbs’ scorecard on the final day showed four birdies on holes three, seven on the front nine and holes 12 and 17 on the back nine. The birdies were, however, outnumbered by regular bogeys on holes five, six, 11, 13 and 16.

Knibbs was very happy with the win. “Winning is always good. Closing the deal is always fun, especially when I did not have the lead coming into today, so I actually chased down Zandre and beat him so that’s nice.”

Roye and Newnham, who were tied for second place, were just one stroke behind Knibbs with a total of 152 each. Roye’s scores were 75 and 77 while Newnham were 78 and 74 on day one and two, respectively. John O’Donoghue was fourth on 154 (77, 77) while Oshae Haye and Rocco Lopez were tied for fifth on 156 each.

The current president of the Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) Munn-Barrow owned the Ladies section with scores of three over par 75 and even par 72 on day one and two, respectively, for a total score of 147. This gave her the best gross score of all the golfers who competed in the tournament.

She, too, was happy with the win. “It was a very good weekend. I am happy with how I played. I hit the ball much better yesterday but I ended up with a much better score today which is how golf is. [I] was actually tired, maybe that helped me because I just kinda relaxed rather than getting anxious so maybe the little tiredness from the Jamaica Open helped me for the two days.”

She was especially happy to beat everybody on the course. “It feels good when we women can beat the men. That’s always a good feeling. I look forward to that in tournaments even if I am not playing and some of the other girls are playing. To see the women come out on top is always great.”

Winni Lau was second with scores of 91 and 95 for a combined score of 186.

The ladies in the 13-24 handicap section are Diane Hudson, 191; Deborah, 212; and Krystal Chung, 217.

The Men & Men Senior 7-12 handicap went to Quentin Hugh Sam with 160, followed by Metry Seaga, 169, and Andre Foote who tied for third with Bruce Levy for a total score of 174 each.

The top three in the Men & Men Senior 13-24 handicap were Clive Newman with 176, Aubyn Ferguson, 177; and Courtney Cephas who tied with Ian Moore on 191 each.

Rory Jardine, 153; Teddy Alexander, 154; and former president of the JGA Wayne Chai Chong was third on 157 in the Men Super Senior 0-12 handicap section.

Another former JGA president, Gordon Hutchinson, topped the Men Super Senior 13-24 category with a total score of 176. Philip Wilson was 10 strokes back on 186 for second place while Richard Josephs was two strokes back on 188 for third place.

Several juniors competed in the tournament. Jhamaul Christie, 178, took the boys’ 16-17 age group while Kemari Morris and Victor Salazar also shot 180 over the two days to be tied for first in the boys’ 11-13 age group.

The girls’ section went to Anoushka Khatri with 186 in the 14-15 category while Allesandra Coe, 231, took the 11-13 age group.

Peter Chin, immediate past president of the JGA who competed in the tournament, is also CEO of title sponsor Alliance Investment Management, was happy to continue its sponsorship of the tournament. “We had a very good turn-out. We had about a hundred golfers this year and we are happy. It’s for a very worthy cause — the Laws Street Trade Training Centre and the event was very successful and we will be able to donate a million dollars this year to the trade training centre.”

The amount represents a doubling of the figure presented in 2020 when the number of participants was significantly lower due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The tournament was played to honour the memory of seven of Jamaica’s outstanding past national representatives, namely Milton “Buddy” Josephs, Izette Rhone, Lenan Lennie Chin, John Fulford, Al Chong, Claude Stewart and Mark Chin, former captain of the Buccaneers.