By Neto Baptiste
Antiguans and Barbudans are being encourage to vote online for the Cedar Valley Golf Course after the facility was nominated for the 10 Best Readers Choice Caribbean Golf Course award.
Cedar Valley Golf Course is currently ranked second in online voting process, but Chairman of the Cedar Valley Gold Club, Eugene Silcott is encouraging all Antiguans, even those in the diaspora, to get involved in the process.
“Knowing Antiguans and Barbudans, I am excited about that because I know they are going to go on the website every day and they are going to vote for Antigua [Cedar Valley Gold Course]. We are very patriotic in Antigua and the diaspora, so I am not worried. At this present time in the voting we are still placed number two. [An] individual said to me that [we] are not going to be able to vote in Antigua or from out of Europe but
[some people have told]
me that they were able to vote here in Antigua; you know Antiguans always find a way to do things,” he said.
The 10 Best Readers Choice Awards is an initiative by USA Today Travel which selects various sites across the globe following feedback and analysis from its trusted experts.
Silcott said he was not sure what to make of the news when he first received it.
“I got up about two days ago and I saw an email and was just about to delete it because I thought it was spam, but I read through it and wondered if it was true. I contacted the person who told me they have some experts who go around the Caribbean and they have different categories like best beach bar, restaurant, distillery, attraction, resort — things like that to include the golf course and they nominate the best set and then they put it on their website, promote it and ask individuals to vote,” he said.
The Cedar Valley Golf Course was designed by Ralph Aldridge and is Antigua’s only 18-hole championship course. The Pete Dye-designed Old Quarry course at the Santa Barbara Golf & Beach Resort in Curacao won the 2019 vote for the best golf course.