The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Georgette Rolle is hoping that her third time playing in the main draw of the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic turns out to be the charm.

Rolle, a 30-year-old teaching professional in the Bahamas Golf Federation, will be among the 120 golfers from around the world that will tee off on Thursday at the Ocean Club Golf Course in the $1.4 million purse and full allocation of points in the Raqce to the CMEW Globe season-long competition.

“I am extremely relaxed, interestingly so,” said Rolle after a press conference yesterday to officially launch the classic. “With so much on the line, maybe like a month or so ago after I got this spot, I was pretty revved up, but I’ve pretty much settled down and everything is starting to come together.

“In the last few years, it’s really been my performance on the putting field that has separated me from the rest of the field. But over the last two days, it’s really been clicking. So that was my only problem. Now that it’s finally here, I’m just getting ready to play.”

Rolle, who played in the first two tournaments with the Bahamian exemption, is back in the line-up after she lost her spot to Racquel Riley last year. However, the two played for this year’s exemption with two other players and Rolle emerged as the winner to regain her spot in the classic.

Now that the tournament is here, Rolle said she has been teaching a lot of junior golf to local players at the BGF’s Driving Range at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex and at the Ocean Club Golf Course where she has done the majority of her preparation.

“It’s always good for me to be out there helping them. But all sorts of light bulbs have gone off in my head and with my mental approach, I’ve been using that in my practice regimen to get ready,” said Rolle, who admitted that she’s more prepared to play this year than she was the previous two.

With so many of the top players in town, Rolle said it’s important for her to make an impression, despite the fact that she may not have had that much local or international tournaments to play in as her peers since the last classic was held here a year ago when she had to play out of the one-day qualifying round, but fell short.

“One of my mentors gave me a tip. He told me when I tee off, don’t look at the players as the No.1 or No.2 golfers in the world, just see them as faceless, nameless people,” she said. “So I think that gave me an extra calming factor too because it could be very intimidating playing against some of the world’s best.

“I just have to size up myself against the field. Even yesterday (Sunday), I was looking over the field and noticed that there are a couple of extra players who are pretty big. So I was thinking if I get paired with them, I won’t be thinking about them. I will have to acknowledge them, but I’m looking forward to playing against them.”

With gold returning to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August, Rolle is also hoping that she can put herself in a position to be one of the 60 players from the 30 countries who will be eligible to compete. While the top 15 players in the world, based on their rankings, will automatically qualify, Rolle said the Pure Silk can be the road to lead to her qualification.

“I just have to play some more events, get on that world list of 60 and I’m in,” she said. “It’s a long shot because although there is a maximum of two golfers per country with the exception of the top 15, I could get in. I just have to play well in whatever events I can get in. But it all starts right here at home.”

In the Bahamas for the first time to play as well are the two African-American golfers on the tour. They are Sadena Parks and Cheyenne Woods, the niece of world-renowned pro golfer Tiger Woods. Rolle, who marks the third, said it would be quite a treat if she can tee off with either one, especially Woods because there is a possibility that Tiger Woods might just show up to support her.

“If Tiger Woods comes out to watch her and she’s in my group, that would be a bonus for me,” Rolle said. “But just having more African-Americans out there on the tour is huge. For me to be in the first tournament of the year with them, I couldn’t ask for a better season opener.

“This is pretty much history, having three African-Americans playing in the same tournament and in the Bahamas. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Looking back at the previous tournaments, Rolle said it will probably take an even par for her to be in a position to vie for a cut in the final two days of competition on Saturday and Sunday when the international television coverage of the classic on ESPN will kick in.

“I think even par will do it. I think my game is steady and that is huge because even if I hit a lot of shots close to the hole, I can finish the deal,” she said. “I think I can finish the deal around those holes.”

Once again, Rolle will be relying on Bahamian male pro golfer Ricardo Davis to serve as her caddie. Davis held that distinction during her first two appearances and Rolle said she’s confident in his ability to help her to play the first two days of competition on Thursday and Friday.

“He’s my best candidate,” she said. “Not only is he one of the best professional golfers in the country, but he really knows my game. He’s also really strong in the area where I was the weakest in the reading of the greens. So I think we make a great team because he kind of balances me out there.”

Rolle, a graduate of Texas Southern in 2007 and a pro since 2008, said it’s just a matter of going out there and playing her best golf ever.