The 15th Annual Turks & Caicos Amateur Open took place over the weekend of the 10th – 12th October 2008 at Provo Golf Club (www.provogolfclub.com) , sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The event featured a banner social schedule en-route to a very successful event which saw 93 golfers compete from the Bahamas, England, Canada, United States, Japan and the Turks & Caicos Islands.  This uniquely International Event continues to be Provo Golf Club’s “Showcase Weekend” by combining a number of social events, with eight men’s flights and two women’s flights. Provo Golf Club was in excellent condition and enjoyed a variety of weather for the highly competitive 36 hole stroke play format.

Well known Canadian Amateur, Kelly Roberts (two-time Ontario Amateur Champion), captured the Overall Championship with a playoff birdie on the 18th hole to defeat Chris Harris of the Bahamas. Roberts won by outlasting all competition as he played brilliantly on the Sunday final round. Roberts shot a first day score of 78 but recovered by shooting a Sunday low score of 74 for the two-day winning total of 152.

Turks & Caicos resident Jumphol Srinark carded an excellent 73 first round score to take the lead but then found trouble on the back nine of Sunday’s play. Defending Champion Peter McIntosh also from the Bahamas was also very close as he finished third just two shots off defending his championship with rounds of 75 and 79.  

Sarah Haywood won the Ladies Championship by shooting rounds of 87 and 85 for an eight shot victory over Denise Douglas. All of the flights were extremely competitive in this National Amateur Championship with many of them coming down to the final few holes.
 

The Complete Trophy Leader Board as Follows:

OVERALL CHAMPION  Kelly Roberts, Canada                152
 LADIES CHAMPION      Sarah Haywood, Provo               172

LADIES 1st FLIGHT

Low Gross           Denise Douglas, Provo             180
Low Net              Carol Brown, Provo                   152

LADIES 2nd FLIGHT

Low Gross          Rebecca Davies, Provo              216
Low Net             Sally Ward, Provo                      168

MENS 1st FLIGHT

Low Gross         Chris Harris, Bahamas                152
Low Net            Peter MacIntosh, Bahamas          152

MENS 2nd FLIGHT

Low Gross       Craig Flowers, Bahamas               160
Low Net          Rob Mensen, Provo                       150

MENS 3rd FLIGHT

Low Gross       Fraser Dods, Provo                       170
Low Net          Jamal Misick, Provo                       153

MENS 4th FLIGHT

Low Gross      Alvy Penn, Bahamas                      173
Low Net         Mike Bookalam, Provo                     147

MENS 5th  FLIGHT

Low Gross    Jeff Kints, Canada                              185
Low Net       Jim MacNeill, Canada                          151

MENS 6th FLIGHT

Low Gross  Jim Alston, Provo                                187
Low Net     Mackey Missick, Provo                        154

MENS 7th FLIGHT                    

Low Gross   Ivan Browne, Provo                            205
Low Net      Reed Hartley, Japan                          156
 

MENS 8th FLIGHT                         

Low Gross  Rich Gilham, Provo                              218
Low Net    Gary MacFadyen, Provo                     149                                                     

LOW TEAM        Shaun Breeze, Jeff Kints, Jim MacNeill, Kelly Roberts
(Team Canada)     Net Score of 448

A special note of congratulations to the Grand Turk entrants, Steve Saunders, and Gervin Simmons who finished 2nd low gross in their respective flights. Also, local junior golfer Matej Kral claimed the comeback award for bettering his first day score by 18 shots. 

The  Hole in One prizes saw a couple of close calls, which created some extra excitement for the Golfers.  Hugh G. O’Neill & Co. once again put up $50,000 for the first Hole in One on the fourth hole of Sunday’s play. 

The Vellagio (www.thevellagio.com) put forward a KIA SORENTO for the first Hole in One of the 2nd round at the 17th hole, while Ocean Club added some flare to the 8th hole with a possible week  long stay up for grabs.

The Tripadvisor Award winning resort Villa Renaissance (www.villarenaissance.com) donated a 3 night stay for the overall winner.

The Turks and Caicos Sporting Club, at Ambergris Cay, gave away a day trip to Ambergris Cay with a hit the green promotion. Rich Gilham claimed that prize through a lucky draw at the Saturday night banquet.

A very special and sincere “Thank You” to Joe Connolly and Nick Haywood at PricewaterhouseCoopers for being the Major Sponsor each of the fifteen years.  Their generous sponsorship in conjunction with hole sponsorships from the local business community is essential in making this event possible each year.

The many efforts of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Staff, The Tournament Volunteers, Provo Golf Club Staff, The Greens Staff, and The Fairways Bar and Grill Staff should be commended for a job well done as The 15th Annual Turks and Caicos Amateur enjoyed another great weekend.

Photos of the event will shortly be released at www.provogolfclub.com