A sum of $2.3 million was raised for 2022 on Sunday at the 20th Annual Couples Resorts Ocho Rios Charity Golf Tournament held at Sandals Golf and Country Club in Upton, St Mary.

Ninety-eight participants were involved in this year’s event, which took the total sum raised to well over $30 million over the past 20 years for the charities which have benefited. The main charities are Three Hills Primary School, Hamilton Mountain Basic School, and The Animal House Jamaica.

Couples Resorts Chief Executive Officer Glenn Lawrence could not have been happier.

“In 2021 we didn’t have a tournament because of COVID and we were just holding back. I think we are being more positive about the future and as a result, we held a tournament that was overwhelmingly successful by the number of entrants. A full field is about 78 players, we had 98, so an excellent way to start the new year,” he beamed.

“We were hoping for somewhere around $2 million, so to raise $2.3 million, which includes sponsors, entry fees, raffles, etc, we are over the moon with that and we do have a project, the Three Hills Primary, that we will fund 100 per cent of that project.”

Lawrence added: “Cumulatively, we have earned close to $30 million over the course of the time, benefited many charities and, especially when you go to the schools and you see what’s in the ground, this is not conception. Seeing classrooms being built, computer labs being used by the students over time, that’s where the satisfaction comes from.”

With the Couple Resorts group having put so much into the event for so long, Lawrence is confident it will continue for some time yet, even after he and his team depart the stage.

“I have a shelf life but because we have so many younger people playing now, we are hoping that it will continue for some time to come,” he ended.

On the golf course Peter Chin and George Hugh emerged winners of the two-man scramble format event with a net score of 60.25 after a gross of 64

Sean Morris and Delroy Johnson copped a gross score of 62 and, like the net score victors, won two nights in a suite at Couples Tower Isle or Couples Sans Souci.

Radino Lobban and Jared Hamilton were second with a net score of 61 after grossing 66.

Mark Newnham and Jodi Munn grossed 63, and like Lobban and Hamilton, won for themselves two nights in a beachfront room at Couples Tower Isle or Couples Sans Souci.

Gifford Wilmot and Carl Brown were next with a net score of 61.5 after grossing 63. They won Samsung smartphones donated by Digicel.

Fourth place went to Gregory Mayne and Ian Garbutt, who had net score of 62.5 after grossing 66. They won day passes for two to Couples Tower Isle or Couples Sans Souci.

The closest-to-the-pin winners were Gregory Mayne on hole number 4; Murine Blake on hole number 7; Tony Gooden on hole number 13; Narada Black on hole number 15; while the hole in one winner was Evatt Bloomfield at number 11.

The putting contest saw Oshane Haye emerging victorious and he won a large ceramic sea urchin by Touch by VLS.

The Couples Resorts Ocho Rios Charity Golf Tournament is the brainchild of repeat guests, Americans Gene and Jane Saks from Florida, and Alan and Josie Kline from Arizona.

The main sponsors of the event were NCB and Digicel, with VIP Attractions, Fraser Fontaine and Kong Insurance Brokers, Guardian General, ICWI, IronRock and Canopy Insurance being the others.