THE 57th Jamaica Golf Association Open gets under way today with a pro-am before Sunday’s start of the 54-hole championship.

Despite two major storms that have affected the island in the last few months, including a tropical storm earlier this week, Tryall Director of Golf Ewan Peebles expects the course to give players a challenge.

After the passage of Hurricane Beryl in early July and Tropical Storm Rafael which brought inches of rain on the course earlier this week, Peebles said they had been working on the course for months and it will be ready.

American Andrew Arft will try to defend his title when the three-day championship gets under way on Sunday. Five of the top 10 finishers from last year are also in the 70-man field.

Similar to 2021 when adverse weather caused the course — which was upgraded at a cost of over US$4 million in 2019 — to be waterlogged, Peebles said they would be ready.

“With experience comes knowledge, right,” Peebles told the Jamaica Observer Friday at a media briefing held at Tryall Club to announce the event. “We refine our maintenance techniques to try to become more effective and more efficient as the days and weeks and years go by.”

Despite a light drizzle during the media event, Peebles said the forecast was for good weather. “The sun is shining right now so the place is drying out really quite nicely. I’m expecting the golf course to be in great shape by Sunday morning.”

Peebles said there was an inspection of the course with the referees earlier on Friday.

“It really looks lovely,” he said. “We’ve not only had this week’s tropical storm, but the guys have been working for months and months cleaning up after the hurricane that blew through here on July 3. I think it’s quite remarkable what the team have done here. The golf course is looking good, and I know it’s going to identify another great champion this week. This is a golf course that tends to separate the best golfers pretty quickly and is expected to do the same again this week.”