The
name Stephen Ames will long be remembered among various clubhouses
in the Caribbean, or the world for that matter. It's up on the
board at Marcus Points Country Club, where Ames won his first
professional tournament ... the Pensacola Open in 1991 on the
Ben Hogan Tour; in France where he won the Lyon Open in 1993
on the Volvo European Tour; in England for the 1996 Benson & Hedges, and before the end of his career, it might be known
in Hawaii, all over the USA and even Australia, depending on
how the winds blow. Stephen
Ames is no ordinary character.
In his Hoerman Cup debut at the
age of 16 in 1980, he smashed the course record at Sandy Lane,
Barbados, with a six-under-par total of 66.
It was by no means his last. There are other course records
bearing his name in the USA and Europe. 
Last year he finished 30th among the top professional golfers
in Europe and 82nd in the world, and while to some this may
seem insignificant, to those who understand golf, it was a fantastic
achievement coming from a player of a third world country. Do
you think he is satisfied? No way! Not the Stephen Ames I know. His
next move will be to get among the top raters so that he can
represent the rest of the world against the USA in the President's
Cup. Ames will either rise to number one in the world or die
trying.
Stephen Ames was born to play golf. And its only by tracking
his history can one really appreciate that his life was all
destined... everything working towards one purpose. He first appeared on the scene as a 12 year old youngster from
South, playing with the local professionals at Moka around 1976,
where he was christened the nick-name "Abdool" by
Roy Benny. Always willing to learn, his game matured quickly
and by age 16, was the hottest thing around. Yet, and this may
have been an important ingredient in the development of his
character, things were not all hunky-dory at that stage. There
was this problem of his education which he was ignoring, and
despite being the holder of a course record at Sandy Lane, in
his debut year, was being taught hard lessons of discipline
by his father Michael. Michael was refusing to send Stephen,
then 17, to Tobago for the final leg of Hoerman Cup trials,
in an effort to have him concentrate more on his studies. It took an article by a rookie journalist, pointing out that
one, Stephen would have to go to Tobago to ensure a place on
the team, and secondly, that his services would be badly needed
for Trinidad and Tobago to defeat Bahamas, who were the top
team and defending Hoerman Cup champions at the time.
That story helped to establish Stephen Ames as the number one
player in Trinidad and Tobago, and also started this writer
in the profession of journalism. But that was only a start.
Seven years later, in Stephen's first year as a professional,
while playing the Jamaican Open, Ames hit the 18th green on
the second day level par, after a good round on the opening
day. The ball rolled over the green to the fringe at the back, slightly
uphill and he chose to use a pitching wedge to try and stop
the ball on the slicky downslope rather than putting off the
toe of the putter and hoping for the ball to die. The ball rolled
off the other side and Ames chipped back and two-putted for
a double-bogey six for 74, which dropped him to around seventh
for the tournament. 
Ames walked off the green and sat on a bench, back of the 18th
with his head bowed between his legs for more than an hour.
When this writer, who had also gone to play the tournament,
walked over to console him, he said "This will never happen
to me again," and promptly took his bag of practice balls
to the driving range and hit 200 balls.
Any one of us local professionals would have been happy with
his 74 and position in the tournament. Of course, we would have
been disappointed with the double bogey, but a Red Stripe or
two at the bar, and a small cry on somebody's shoulder would
have taken care of that. But not Ames, what was good enough
for us was way below his standard, and he was not satisfied
with getting anything but the best from himself. He finished
11th, but he had gone to Jamaica with much higher expectations.
In a way, this self-whipping attitude proved his weakness, costing
him many top 10 finishes, both on the Nike Tour and the European
Circuit, where he would be well placed for three days, then
fade away with one bad score. But it is also his strength and
his desire to do well that has taken him beyond golfing scribes,
when they visited Tobago, or Trinidad for annual tournaments.
Ames has been able to run past names like Brian Barnes, Andrew
Murray, Peter Baker, David Gilford, Barry Lane and others, who
were looked on as golfing gods by locals, before his ascent.
A misunderstanding on re-entering the United States during the
Nike Tour in 1992, cost him his US visa, and saw him making
an impromptu exit from the Nike Tour and trying for the European
circuit, in France. He qualified and had four reasonably successful
years in Europe, winning twice and last year, placing fifth
in the British Open at the famous St. Andrew's course in Scotland,
having the honour of placing higher than world number one, Tiger
Woods, and other names like Nick Faldo, Greg Norman and Bernhard
Langer.
In between he got married to Jodi, a Canadian air hostess
he had met while playing the Nike Tour, and also had a son Justin,
born February 1997. One never to give up, he kept trying to qualify for the US Tour,
and last year, after another reasonable performance in Europe
with three top 10 finishes and quite a few in the top 20, tied
third in the USPGA qualifying tournament in Orlando last December.
Life was tough and expensive in Europe, particularly when he
had to play tournaments outside England. He then had to travel
to places like Spain, Germany and France, and even if the tournaments
followed each other, he would first have to fly back to England
before heading out again, which of course, seemed maddening.
Life for Ames should be much easier in the USA. Travelling will
become much simpler and of course, the stakes are much higher.
Ames also has a choice at two apples. He had qualified for both
the European and US tours. One expects him to concentrate heavily
on the US circuit, while playing a few selective tournaments
in England.
Despite all his achievements Ames has never been able to cop
the sportsman of the year award. Not so much that he had not
been performing, but more to the fact he has been up against
stiff competition and also that the judges do not understand
golf. One year there was Brian Lara, then the last two years
Ato Bolden. One comparison however. While Ato Bolden, who won
this country two Olympic bronze medals in 1996, was voted sportsman
of the year, Tiger Woods, who won three amateur tournaments
in the USA, and was about to turn professional, was named Sports
Illustrated Sportsman of the Year over Michael Johnson, gold
medallist in the 200 metres ahead of Ato and gold medallist
in the 400 metres in world record time, at the Atlanta Olympics.
Ames may never be Trinidad and Tobago's Sportsman of the Year,
but he is certainly their Golfer of the Century!
NB. Sadly, Eddy Odingi died of kidney failure in June 2000,
at the age of 59.
Stephen Ames