St. Andrew's Juniors

 
2009 was an exciting year for junior golf at St. Andrews Golf Club with new initiatives being introduced for junior golfers. The year started off with the usual BP Pro Am in February with 34 junior golfers pairing off with golf pros from all over the United States and the United Kingdom. Once again, Bruce Davidson did not disappoint with the second edition of the Big Break Trini Style including the appearance of the winner of the Golf Channel’s First Big Break Justin Peters.

The Junior Club Championships was held early in the Calendar after an absence during 2008. For the first time the Committee introduced a Nine Hole competition on day two of the Championships to encourage the club’s younger players to participate and experience tournament play. In the Boys Championships, Andrei Collins lead the field after day one with a score of 75 two shots ahead of Matthew Marquez and Talin Rajendranath. Marquez shot a final round of two under par 70 to capture the title. In the Girls Championships, day one leader Anneke Ward improved her score by 2 strokes from day one with a 79 to clinch first place. In the Boys 9 holes, Gerard Farah won with a round of 42 while Ysabelle Lawrence took the Girls title.

St. Andrew’s Golf Club once again hosted a successful staging of the Republic Bank Junior Open with 77 junior golfers teeing it up in four categories. With this tournament contributing points to national team selection, the junior golfers were anxious to perform. This three day tournament hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Golf Association and sponsored by Republic Bank has always attracted the best juniors. Junior Club Champion Matthew Marquez took the Overall Boys Championship while Natalya Rahamatula won the Overall Girls Championship.

The introduction of the monthly Junior tournaments has provided an avenue for some of the club’s younger golfers to experience tournament play in a friendly and encouraging environment. All of our juniors who have not yet come out to play should try.

The Junior Christmas Hamper was the final junior tournament of the year. As usual, the hampers looked magnificent but the juniors were more interested in bragging rights and bringing a ham home. The rains came early and shortened the tournament to nine holes. The team of Liam Bryden and Gabriel Lombard finished the tournament with an impressive 28 strokes. Tori Baptiste and Shauna Fraser came in 3 strokes behind with 31 to take second place. Jerome Marquez, Chairman of the Junior Golf Committee wished the juniors well for the Christmas season and thanked them for their participation in the programmes over the year.