The Cayman Islands Golf Association (CIGA) recently held a qualifying competition for a place on a Western Caribbean Team that will compete against a team from the Eastern Caribbean in a tournament to be held in Puerto Rico between 10th and 15th November 2007. This inaugural event organised by the Caribbean Golf Association is based on the famous Ryder Cup, with a mixture of Pairs and Individual matchplay over a series of days.
The qualifying competition was open to CIGA members with a handicap of less than eight and attracted many of the Cayman Islands top players. Day one saw play limited to nine holes due to inclement weather in the afternoon, with Michael Wight leading having shot 1 over par. Four others, Matthew Wight, Robert Chilman, Philip Wight and Robert Woods were within a shot of Michael going into the second day. Day two saw improved weather but gusting winds made it difficult for the competitors to score well. Michael Wight put himself into a strong position, but a double bogey at the final hole meant that he missed out by a single stroke. Robert Chilman tied Michael for second place. Robert Woods having made a miraculous recovery shot for par on the 17th hole stole victory, and will join Cayman’s young golfing star Johnny Widmer as Cayman Islands representatives in the Western Caribbean Team. Johnny had been unable to play in the qualifying Tournament due to overseas school commitments and was selected to represent the Cayman Islands by the CIGA committee.
Following his victory, Robert Woods commented, “I think that I shocked a few people, including myself by winning this event. The key was never giving up. I thought that I had blown my chances having double bodied the 15th hole on Sunday, but managed to dig in and finish with three good pars.” Robert, who is the President of CIGA also thanked the Links at Safehaven for providing a first class course for the tournament.
About recent developments regarding the sale of the Links he stated the following emphasising that his comments are personal, and not necessarily the views of the CIGA committee:
“I have heard all of the same rumors as the rest of the golfing community, and until an official announcement is made it is difficult for me to comment. It would however in my opinion, be a crying shame if at any time the Links course was not available at a reasonable cost for Cayman Islands residents. The attitude of the current owners and management towards residents since the course re-opened has been excellent, and I believe has directly caused the rapid growth of the popularity of the sport within the local community. In addition, if the course becomes private, the large numbers of tourists that come to the Cayman Islands to play golf will go to other Countries that have quality championship golf courses available, there is no doubt about that. The Cayman Islands was due to host the 2008 Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships, a tournament that would bring many regional golfers and followers to Grand Cayman. However, due to the uncertainty over the availability of an 18 hole championship golf course, the CIGA committee has had no option but to withdraw. Hopefully, the rumors that the course will become private or that the costs to play will make it prohibitive to most golfers are not accurate, we will see.”
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