T&T golfer Monifa Sealy believes that the strong bond she shared with her teammates was the driving force behind the national squad's Arthur Zaidie (Overall) Trophy victory at the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships, which finished in Trincity on Saturday.Along with Martine De Gannes and Tracey Clarke, Sealy also helped T&T finish 15 strokes ahead of runners up Puerto Rico in the George Teale Trophy (Women's Open).The 18-year-old was the best woman golfer of the tournament, shooting six over par 290 (77+73+67+73) over the four days to edge the next best, Puerto Rico's Maria Torres by six shots. Her third day tally of 67 tied the course record and was the top score of the competition, along with Puerto Rican Erick Morales.Speaking to the media at the closing ceremony, she said that teamwork had been the key to the country's success.
"We're always coming in second all the time by one point, two points and after finally taking it, I'm elated... The team we had this year was very close. We love each other. We worked together hard. We showed each other what was going on. If anybody's swing was off, we worked together hard to try and fix it." She added that home course advantage also gave them an edge."The course was difficult. We got a lot of wind and had to play through the rain on a soggy course, which is very hard to do in this sport, but I think in the end it worked out for everyone. Leading up to the tournament, we've been practising on the course and it had been raining all the time so it was very swampy, but I think that came to our advantage in the end and we were able to do what we had to do."Sealy, a recent graduate from the Gary Gilchrist Golf Academy in Florida, will begin her freshman year at the University of Central Florida in September.