SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend Johnson, Stollmeyer retain titles 9/10/2013 Defending champions, James Johnson and Rae ‘Muffin’ Stollmeyer, played their hearts out this past weekend to hold on to their respective titles in the 30th Anniversary edition of the United Insurance Barbados Golf Open. The local players came out ahead of other local, regional and international entrants at the conclusion of the three-day tournament which came to an end this past Sunday. With participants coming from St. Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago and as far off as Italy, all and sundry were gunning for both Johnson and Stollmeyer throughout the tournament which played at the Barbados Golf Club, Sandy Lane and Royal Westmoreland. However, they both were able to stave off their opponents to take away the top spots in the 12th installment of the United Insurance-sponsored championship. Speaking to The Barbados Advocate at the awards ceremony for the tournament at Royal Westmoreland on Sunday, Stollmeyer, who has other wins for the year, stated that she was pleased with her victory. She also said that although the level of competition was the same as other competitions, there was a noticeable upsurge in the amount of women in the tournament and that she thought it was a welcome change. “This tournament had a lot more ladies than most of the other tournaments. The Barbados Golf Association has done a good job in attracting more competitors from overseas. There were about five ladies in last year’s and this time the numbers have gone up to around 10 or more, so the competition is a lot better,” she said. She went on to add that next for her would be training towards the RBC Golf Classic. Johnson was also pleased with his win and stated that he could have easily not retained his title this year. “I wasn’t quite on my game this week so I was a little disappointed in my play, but I am happy to come through with a win. I was two shots back going into today and I ended up beating Trevor Levine by three in the end. It was neck-and-neck for most of the day and the turning-point was a mistake that Trevor made on the 15th and I capitalised on it on 16,” he said. He went on to say that the conditions were good and that he had a good feeling about the tournament this year. “The conditions were great. With the rain we had earlier in the week, the courses were soft. There wasn’t a lot of wind. In the back of my mind I felt that this could have been a week to set the all-time scoring record of 11- under. That didn’t happen. In fact, I played pretty average but I managed to scrape home in the end,” he said. With his sights now set on the Caribbean Cup, which pits South-Eastern territories against those from the North-West of the region, Johnson said that he too was going to go into some training. “Here in Barbados I know the courses well so I am comfortable and I tend to produce my best golf here. I think there are a lot of good players in the region. I need to keep playing some more and keep pressing myself and maybe looking at playing a little bit in North America and Europe.” he said. The Caribbean Cup is slated to be played in Jamaica in November. (MP)
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 11:03:32 +0000
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