Sarah Ramphal upset Yeji Lee’s plans for a three-peat in the first flight gross division as juniors dominated the Svelty T&T Women's Open which ended on Sunday at the St Andrews Golf Course in Moka, Maraval.
Lee, who won this tournament in 2018 and 2019, was three shots behind Ramphal on day one and could only pick up one shot on the second and final day, finishing two shots behind Ramphal at the end of play on Sunday.
Ramphal – 157 (13 over par gross) – clinched her second win of the current year, having captured the women's section in the Brechin Castle (BC) Open in early January, when Lee did not play.
Joanne Bryden leapfrogged to third place in this flight by playing nine shots better than her first-day score. Chloe Ajodha, another of our promising juniors, captured the net title in this flight at five over par.
Ramphal has also won the Bracken Castle open last month holds titles at Moka, Millennium Lakes (2019 Millennium Open and Millennium Club Champion), 2018 Rudder Alexander Tournament (not hosted in 2019) and Brechin Castle Open Championships.
In the second flight, very good scoring after the first day’s play set up an intriguing contest among two juniors – Jada Charles and Azariah Joseph and the veteran Violet Roopchand. At the end of the day’s play, the standings remained the same, Charles's 171 (82/89) saw her coming out on top by five shots from Roopchand and Joseph a further four shots behind. Faatimah Emamali, the youngest player in the tournament at just 13, finished in the fourth spot.
The good showing by these young players in the first two flights means that they will be serious contenders for places on both the junior and senior national teams for regional competitions later in the year.
For Charles, this is her first big title, and is that a breakthrough win for her. She and Chloe Ajodah teamed up to finsh 2nd at the Scarborough Cup in Tobago last weekend.
In the third flight for handicaps 25-36 playing the stableford points format, Rasha Ter Braack, is a Norwegian who lives in T&T for the majority of the year and a regular at Moka, after trailing by five points on day one, turned the tables on Barbara McEachrane on day two, finishing on a two-day score of 76 points to Barbara’s 72.
The tricky Moka greens proved the undoing of many aspirants. Following the long wet season, there was some rain on the course in the early part of the week, and while the fairways were well grassed, the greens had already become firm and fast. Representatives of Nestle and Caribbean Bottlers, co-sponsors of this event, were on hand to distribute prizes at the end of another successful championship.