Mullet Bay, St. Maarten — The title for the Overall Team Gross score of this year’s ECGA tournament hosted by the St. Maarten Golf Association SMGA at the Mullet Bay Golf Course, was won by the island of St. Kitts with a total combined score of 1,281 Low Gross.
Martinique ended up in second place with a combined score of 1,307. The Overall Team Net score was won by St. Maarten with a score of 1,122 after deduction of the team combined handicap.
Due to good preparation, team spirit and home field advantage, the St. Maarten team was able to keep pace with the top teams and perform in an exceptional way. Winning top honours in the Overall Team Net score meant that all members in their specific category excelled during the weekend.
The overall Low Gross score in the Men’s category where each team consisted of 4 men was won by Antigua with a combined Low Gross score of 444. In second place came St. Kitts with a combined Low Gross score of 447.
The Overall Low Net score in the Men’s category was won by team St. Maarten consisting of Howard Hobgood, Kit Lee, Jesus Rivera and Stanley Samuel with a combined score of 417, followed by St. Thomas who shot a combined Low Net score of 436.
The Overall Low Gross score in the Ladies team category consisting of 3 ladies per team was won by Martinique with a combined score of 334 Low Gross, followed by Guadeloupe who had a combined score of 348 Low Gross.
The Overall Net Score in the Ladies team category was won by our own St. Maarten team consisting of Anne-Marie Bouillé, Sidsel Jacobsen and Gitte Poulsen who had a combined Low Net score of 283 beating the tournament favourites from St. Kitts by only 2 shots.
The Overall Low Gross score in the seniors team for players between 50 and 60 years old was won by the team of St. Kitts Nevis with an overall 302. In 2nd place came the island of Montserrat with a total combined score of 306. Again the St. Maarten Seniors team, consisting of Sam Bashir, Steven Mix and Philippe Thévènet showed their team spirit and blew away the field with a combined score of 279 Low Net after deduction of their combined handicap. In Second place with a 10 shot difference came in the island of Martinique with a combined score of 289 Low Net.
The Overall Low Gross score in the Super Seniors team for players older than 60 years old was won St. Thomas with an overall Low Gross score of 158, followed by Antigua with an overall Low Gross Score of 161. Overall Low Net score was won by St. Kitts with a score of 140, followed by St. Croix with a 141.
In the Ladies category, Maëva Vanoverschelde from Martinique won the individual Low Gross prize with a score of 155. Individual Low Net was won by Joann Delay from St. Kitts with a score of 142 Low Net.
In the category Men’s, Paul Michael from Antigua won the individual Low Gross prize with a score of 143, followed by our own Howard Hobgood from St. Maarten who won second individual Low Gross by a difference of only 3 strokes. Stanley Samuel also from team St. Maarten took individual first Low Net with a score of 137.
Canice Louis from St. Kitts shot a total score of 147 to win the Individual Low Gross in the category Senior’s for players over 50 years old, while Sam Bashir of St. Maarten won individual 1st Low Net in this category with a score of 134 Low Net after deduction of his handicap.
In the category Super Seniors for golfers over 60 years old, Sam Topp from St. Thomas won individual Low Gross with a score of 158 and individual Low Net was won by Rick van Heckman from St. Croix with a score of 141. The team captain and president of the SMGA, Keith Graham won second place Low Net with a score of 143.
After the first day of this two day 36 hole tournament, St. Kitts was leading with an overall combined score of 646 gross, followed by Martinique with 653 and Guadeloupe was in third place with a score of 660 gross. St. Maarten was in 4th place after the first round with a combined gross score of 662 gross.
After deduction of team and individual handicaps, the St. Maarten Team was leading after day one in the Overall Low Net Team category, the Men’s Team Net category and the Ladies Team Net category. In the Senior’s Team category, St Maarten was trailing leaders Martinique by just one stroke.
The Eastern Caribbean Golf Association Tournament is organized each year by a different host-country and consists of the best players from eleven countries that are a member of the Eastern Caribbean Golf Association (ECGA). These countries are: Anguilla, Antigua-Barbuda, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.
The festivities began on Friday evening at the SONESTA Great Bay Beach Resort with a grand opening of the tournament by the honurable Prime Minister Mr. Marcel Gumbs, which was followed by the flag raising ceremony and introduction off all participating countries and teams. The Generation New Status STM Drum Band, one of the community organizations that received donations from the SMGA over the last years, got the crowd in the festive mood by a great performance.
The St. Maarten Golf Association SMGA was able to organize this top ranked tournament due to the great partnership with Mullet Bay Resort & Golf Course, Coca Cola / CC1 and the St. Maarten Tourist Office.