By Neto Baptiste
Antigua and Barbuda found success at the recently held Eastern Caribbean Golf Association (ECGA) Championships held in Barbados over the weekend.
The national golfers captured the first gross titles in the senior men’s and seniors divisions while, in the women’s category, team Antigua swung themselves to second in the net category. The country finished second in net in the super seniors category.
There was individual success as well for Paul Michael who was first in the seniors’ gross competition.
Jonathan Pigott was first in the men’s net competition and there was hardware as well for Omorry James as he finished third in the men’s gross. Team Antigua and Barbuda ended first overall in the net division.
President of the association, Avery Jonas, commended the players for their outstanding performances.
“I know it’s probably the best we’ve done since we won it in 2014. I think it’s probably the best team we’ve had, perhaps since 2014. We had good leadership from the team captain, Paul Michael. The players were committed and we had good team chemistry and I think everything just came together and the players performed as they should have,” he said.
A 12-member team represented Antigua and Barbuda at the championships. The team, headlined by experienced Omorry James in the men’s division, also included Wilston Charles, Demar James and Jonathan Pigott.
Team captain Paul Michael, Dion Massiah and Eldine Baptiste contested the senior division while Patrick Ryan and Lionel O’Brien competed in the super seniors division.
Female players Sarafina Nicholas, Kris Kamajian and Sabienea Winston represented the twin-island state in the female category.
Jonas said Michael stood out both as a leader and player.
“Based on the numbers, I would have to say Paul Michael was the MVP. He was the top-performing golfer for Antigua in the tournament as he shot three under par. He was one under par on the first day, two under par on the second day and I think Paul had the second best scores across two days in the entire tournament, so he won the seniors section; but the entire team did very well,” he said. Antigua and Barbuda competed against golfers from St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Maarten, Anguilla, Montserrat, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Martinique and hosts, Barbados.