An upbeat Jamaica senior team of mostly junior golfers departed the island on Sunday for the 66th Caribbean Amateur Golf Championship in Trinidad and Tobago July 27-29.

The four female members of the team are Jodi Munn-Barrow, juniors Emily Mayne, Mattea Issa, and newcomer Anoushka Katri, who played in the Under-15 category this year on the junior team.

Many-time national representative Jodi Munn-Barrow, president of the Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) and the secretary of the Caribben Golf Association, expects Jamaica to do well in this year.

“I expect the team to perform well. They know each other. Most of them played last year together. The camaraderie is high. Everybody really wants to go out there and make Jamaica proud and that’s all we can ask of them. It’s very good to see that six of the 10 players are juniors so that’s very good for our programme.”

In terms of her own game, she said, “Well, from my side, I am hoping to bring some experience to help the girls as best as I can, of course to go out there and try my best.”

Mayne, who captained the team that carried home the George Teale trophy last year, said, “I am hoping to play well. I am hoping to bring home a trophy again as last year the women’s team won the trophy. So I am just hoping that we can really build some team spirit and help everyone play well so we can bring home the trophy.”

The male members of the team are Justin Burrowes, captain; Zandre Roye, who returns to the team after a number of years; and juniors Rocco Lopez, Aman Dhiman, and Ryan Lue. The sixth player, William Knibbs, is already in Trinidad and Tobago and will participate in the two practice rounds prior to the start of the championship. The male team placed fourth in 2022.

“I think I am pretty prepared. The last four five months I have not been in Jamaica. I kinda changed my base to the States. I have been playing golf every single day, practising every single day. I have been really working on my short game, which always needs a bit of work. I am looking forward to this week. I am always honoured to represent my country,” said Burrowes.

Junior golfer Lopez will be following his coach’s instruction, which is “to not expect anything, just go out there and try my best and whatever happens, happens”.

“But I expect to play well cause I have been practising very hard and I am excited to play.”

Dr Mark Newnham, the team manager, was upbeat about the team’s chances to do well this year.

“This year I think we have the perfect team, perfect of young enthusiastic hungry talent with the right mix of experience. I am not gonna call anybody older, but let’s say wiser, so we have that perfect mix. We are looking forward to building on the success of last year. Our women’s division took home the top prize so we are just looking forward this year to representing and doing better than last year.”