Pros beat amateurs to capture inaugural Rose Cup

The pros and the amateurs began the second and final day of the inaugural Mayberry Investments Rose Cup on five a-piece with 12 more points on the line at the Caymanas Golf Country Club on Wednesday.

The pros took the early lead at 7-3 at the halfway mark, scoring their first of nine points when Jonathan Newnham won his matchup against John Dunbar by eight with six holes to go.

Al Robinson, who was the first golfer to tee off at 8:00 am, gave them their second point when he got the better of former JGA President Wayne Chai Chong on the 18th hole, going one up. That was the first of only four matchups to go all the way to the 18th hole.

The final point for the pros was delivered by Sean Green who battled William Knibbs all the way to the 18th hole. That matchup ended at one-up for Green, this after Knibbs was two up at the halfway mark.

Pros Raymond Brown (seven with six holes to go) over Jack Stein, Wesley Brown (five and four) over Sean Morris were other notable performances for the pros.

Non-playing pro Captain Sebert Walker Sr was pleased with the performances.

“We started off a little slow on the first day with the four balls [and] we were even after 36 holes. We thought we should have been ahead by probably one or two points, [but] we were even,” he said.

He credited Wesley Brown who won his three matches, Lloyd Campbell who won two matches and Jonathan Newnham who blew away his opponent by eight and six.

Walker Sr promised to defend the win next year.

The pros won nine of the 12 head-to-head matches to three by the amateurs to end the tournament with 14 points while the amateurs got eight points overall.

The best performance from the amateurs came from Sebert Walker Jr, who defeated Michael Rowe by five and four. He was four-up after just nine holes.

Justin Burrowes overpowered Kevin Nedrick by three and two, and the other win for the amateurs went to John O’Donoghue over Allan Graham one-up after going all the way to the final hole.

Rocco Lopez, the only junior in the tournament, lost to Orville Christie two and one. The other three amateurs to lose their matches were Shamar Wilson one-up to Martin Butt, Tommy Lee four and three to Lloyd Campbell and Dr Mark Newnham two and one to Kevin McDonald.

Sean Morris, captain of the amateur team, said: “I am very disappointed that we did not win the inaugural staging of the Rose Cup. I personally came out flat this morning. I had a couple reports that we were down in a couple of the matches and it kind of fed into my game a little bit because I became a little more concerned because the way I had planned it in picking the guys going out was that we wanted to, at worst, be even through six matches and I believe we were up in only one or two.”

Sheree Rose, daughter of Seymour Rose, in whose honour the tournament is played, had high praises for the the event.

“It really came off as a wonderful success, and if he was personally here, he would be so proud. I want to say a big thank you to all the organisers and all the sponsors,” she said.

Major Desmon Brown, co-chair of the organising committee, was also pleased with proceedings.

“Like everything else, it’s difficult, but fortunately I had a good partner in Sean Morris. He did a lot of the work. At first I was a little discouraged and he said, ‘No, we had to have it’, and once we made that decision both of us put our heads together.

“We got some sponsors and both teams pitched in and I am really impressed. The golf was excellent and…and I think that next year will be even bigger and better,” he noted.

Sponsors of the Rose Cup were Mayberry Investments, SDF, Body Forte, Cafe Blue, Grab and Go, Sterling Asset Management, Versachem International, Karnak Construction, Billy Craig Insurance, Fontana Pharmacy, Fidelity Motors, Twin Gates Dental Centre, Port of Call Duty Free, and WATA.