ROSE HALL, St James — Despite the lower than expected entries, chairman of the Professional Golfers Association of Jamaica (PGAJ) Dr Richard Grant said he was happy with the staging of the two-day, 36-hole championships at Cinammon Hills course in Rose Hall, St James, earlier this week.

Only 21 players, 17 professionals and four amateurs, took part in the champiuonships that was held Tuesday and Wednesday and saw Wyndham Rose Hall professional Al Robinson retain his title with a three over par 147 score, including an even par 72 on Wednesday.

Wesley Brown and Owen Wynter were tied for second with seven over par 151, while Ray Brown and Orville Christie were tied for third with 10 over 154.

Sebert Walker Jr, who won the amateur section with a sparkling one undr par 143, shot three under 69 on the first day and two over 74 on Wednesday and finished with aplomb with a birdie on the par five 18th hole, playing in the final group.

Dr Grant told the Jamaica Observer that event, the final tournament of the year for professional golfers, is making a comeback after struggling to find sponsorship.

“This event has been a fixture in the calendar for over 15 years, however, due to the lack of sponsorship we had a long break before we restarted in 2019 and have managed to have it the last three years,” he said.

He said the tournament’s revival was made possible through several individual sponsors, including Henley Taylor out of England as well as Campari Jamaica.

Dr Grant noted that small field of competitors could be due to the impact of COVID-19.

“The PGAJ Championships is here to stay, regardless of what is happening here and in the world, we need to have a professional body here, even if it is not where it should be as it can only grow as the game develops here in Jamaica,” he said.

“[It was a ] fairly good standard of golf, despite the start been affected by early morning rains on Tuesday. Our professionals are very good but most are not able to play as much golf as they should to get them to the level they can get to, we have very talented golfers who given the opportunity to concentrate on golf only, they could be competitive on some tours, right now there are too many distraction of them,” Dr Grant added.

Robinson said he was always confident he would retain his title.

“This is my home course, I am home,” he said, “I was very confident coming onto the tournament..the first day was hard as it was wet and had to deal with mud but it was much better on the second day.”

He singled out his birdie on par four 12th hole on Wednesday as the highlight.

“I dropped the ball two inches from the hole, it was sweet, I just had to tap it in, that was the highlight for me,” Robinson beamed.