The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FOR the fourth year, professional golf teacher Georgette Rolle will get a chance to carry the Bahamian flag in the Pure Silk Bahamas Ladies Professional Golf Association Classic.

Over the weekend at the Ocean Club, Rolle earned her third straight appearance in the fifth annual event, scheduled for January 23-29 at the same venue on Paradise Island.

At the end of the two-day tournament to determine the Bahamian exemption against the world’s top female golfers, Rolle shot rounds of 80 and 79 for a +15.

She beat out Racquel Riley, who will get a chance to play for a qualifying spot on January 23. She finished as the runner-up with identical scores of 83 for a +22.

Just one shot shy of tying Riley was Taneka Sandiford, who posted rounds of 80 and 87 for a +23. The remainder of the field included collegian Inecia Rolle with 85 and 95 for a +36 and high schooler Ashley Michel with 88 and 95 for a +39.

Playing with an injured left thumb she sustained on Thursday in practice, Rolle said she was delighted that she was able to prevail in the end.

“Yesterday (Saturday) in the first round, I started out pretty poorly,” said Rolle after her performance in the clubhouse. “I had to dig really deep and try to grind out and finished one –over-par, which was quite steady.

“Today (Sunday), I came with the mindset to continue with the momentum that I had from the day before. I tried to get my score down as low as I could. I think with the mindset and my thumb, it worked out. It felt good because there was high intensity out there for two days, but I had fun because I really hit the ball exceptionally well for the two days.”

As the teaching pro for her Fourteen Clubs Golf Academy that she operates at the Bahamas Golf Federation’s Driving Range at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex, Rolle said she has been able to keep busy and in shape.

But now that she’s qualified to compete in the Pure Silk Classic, she intends to head off to the United States for a couple of weeks to sharpen her skills and ensure that she’s ready for the challenge ahead of her.

Rolle, who turns 32 in February, qualified to compete in the Pure Silk during the initial year in 2013 and again from 2015-17. She has indicated that she would not only like to get a good birthday present for herself, but inspire the many youngsters who she teaches in her academy.

The only year she didn’t make it was 2014 when Riley earned that distinction. However, Riley fell ill and was unable to complete the qualifying rounds. But she’s hoping that she can redeem herself when the final qualifying round is held on January 23.

“The tournament was okay. I missed a lot of opportunities and I didn’t really catch up,” said Riley, a teaching professional at Baker’s Bay in Abaco. “I made it. The walking was good. I didn’t have any issues with it. I just couldn’t quite get my game together.”

She pinpointed her downfall for her putting.

“Just knowing that I should have made those putts made me put too much pressure on the next and the next and the next shots,” she said. “Putting was it for me. I struck the ball very well and I hit almost every fairway and half the greens. But my putting failed me big time.”

While she enjoyed the competition, Riley said it was so close that anyone could have come out on top. After falling short, she has vowed to make a difference when she get a second chance on January 23.

For Sandiford, she was just delighted to be home, even though she would have preferred to perform much better in the tournament.

“Yesterday (Saturday) I played very well. I just left a few putts out there,” she insisted. “Today (Sunday) there was just a few errant shots, small minor things, but overall I’m happy and proud of the way I played.

“I haven’t been playing much because I’m done with college ad is now an assistant golf club at college in Oklahoma so I get to play maybe once or twice a week if I’m lucky. But seeing it from a different angle, I’m learning to be a better player. I am better than I was last year and hopefully next year I will be better than I was today.”

After playing locally for the past 11 years as a junior, Inecia Rolle is starting to get to the level where she want to be, thanks largely to her athletic scholarship at Chowan University where she’s making her impression in her freshman year.

But 18-year-old Rolle will be the first to tell you that her coaching staff at Chowan won’t be as pleased as they would like with her performance in the tournament.

“The weather was so good, I should have played much better than I did in my past two times trying out,” Rolle said. “With the game of gold, you have to take what it gives you and not try to force anything or everything will just go out of control.

“But it was a great opportunity to get this chance again to try out for the Pure Silk Tournament. This will definitely help to mature me as a golfer as I continue to grow.”

With her fall season completed since the end of October after turning in some low scores in four of the five tournaments she played in, Rolle said if she had gotten at least to get in some work, she would have done much better. She summed up her performance by saying that she just simply “couldn’t putt, couldn’t chip. I could barely hit the ball. Everything was just out of the window.”

As the youngest member of the tournament, 13-year-old Michel did her best in her debut at such a high level in the three years she’s been involved in the sport.

“It was rough. The first day was just a nightmare with the weather, but today was better,” said the CH Reeves’ ninth grader. “I expected to shoot in the 70s, but it didn’t turn out that good.

“It could have been worse, but with this being my first time trying out, the ladies were competitive and I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.”

Glenn Archer, president of the BGF, said they had envisioned a bigger turnout of competitors, but he congratulated the five players who participated.

“The weather wasn’t the best yesterday (Saturday), but it was much better today,” today, (Sunday) but it was better,” he said. “We just have to get this to a point where our players can get better and get more exposure to good competition before getting into major events like the Pure Silk.”

While he congratulated Rolle on getting her exemption into the main event, he noted that Riley still has a chance when she compete in the qualifying round of the main event at the start of the week long tournament in January.

Robbie Lening, the general manager for Pure Silk, said it’s a testament of the hard work of the five golfers to weather the conditions and still compete at a high level.

“We didn’t have great weather the first day, but they got through the adversity,” he said. “They are all very talented, so it was be interested to see how they further develop their skills as they move forward.”