The fifth staging of the annual Munro College Old Boys’ Association (MCOBA) Lindy Delapenha Golf Classic was launched on Wednesday at the Keller Williams Realtors head office in Kingston.

The classic is one of the MCOBA’s major fund-raising events, and the money raised used to support sports and academic programmes at the 166-year-old Munro College.

The MCOBA stages the event annually to commemorate the life of Lloyd “Lindy” Delapenha, whose sporting exploits are well-known locally and internationally. He was inducted in the MCOBA Hall of Fame in 2012.

President of MCOBA Victor Tomlinson spoke of the passion that Delapenha had for the sport of golf.

“In his later life, he became an avid golfer and became one of the leading golfing personalities in Jamaica. Indeed, the ashes of Lindy were sprinkled by a palm tree near Hole #9 on the Caymanas course. At last year’s event, a headstone in the vicinity was unveiled by Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment & Sport the Honourable Olivia Grange.”

The presentation ceremony, which was not held last year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic will return this year.

Nevin Nish, meanwhile, spoke on behalf of presenting sponsors Keller Williams Realtors.

“Keller Williams Jamaica Realty and its subsidiary, The Keller Williams Jamaica Luxury Brand, is extremely grateful to be afforded the opportunity to embark on such a journey with the MCOBA through the sponsoring of this year’s staging of the Lindy Delapenha Golf Classic.

Keller Williams Realtors came on-board as sponsors last year, but has since elevated its presence to presenting sponsors of the event.

“As part of a three-year arrangement that was agreed through KW Jamaica and MCOBA, by the visionary leader, the late Rory Marsh, we saw the importance to sponsor this event. Rory Marsh, being an outstanding Old Boy and Sportsman of Munro College, had many local and international accolades. He has always felt passionate about giving back to the institution which made it possible.

“Keller Williams Jamaica, through its charitable arm, KW Cares, saw it as the perfect alignment initiative to impact the lives of the young men of Munro College who are strong both academically and athletically, but do not have the financial backing to sustain their academic pursuits.”

Linda Delapenha Bright, daughter of Lindy, was delighted that Munro continued to honour her father in this way.

“It is very important because he was a great Munronian. He represented them in many, many different aspects of sports, and in his latter days. After he retired, he took up golf [and] represented Jamaica in golf tournaments overseas in the Hermann Cup.

“Right up until the very last he was playing golf and it was a game that he absolutely loved. We are honoured that Munro College has renamed and rebranded the golf tournament in his honour,” she said.

Peter Lindo, the tournament director, is expecting a spectacular event on Saturday.

“We are actually oversubscribed, and we are looking forward to about 88 golfers this Saturday. The tournament will be competed at stableford format with a shotgun start,” he outlined.

“We expect a variety of handicaps participating. Everyone from scratch to your high handicap, so it’s going to be not only competitive but it will [also] be fun. We look forward to having great weather; the golf course is in very good shape, the greens are running fast and it’s going to be a great day.”

Lindo is expecting some of the top golfers in the country on both the men’s and women’s side to be in attendance.

“We have Munro Old Boys Peter and Bobby Chin, who are excellent golfers. I anticipate that we will have one of Jamaica’s number one golfers and president of the Jamaica Golf Association Jodi Munn competing. The veteran Maggie Lyn has confirmed, so we are going to have a very good field,” he said.

The presentation ceremony will follow immediately after the event which is expected to end at about 1:00 pm.

— Dwayne Richards