The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ONE of the top amateur golfers teamed up with one of the youngest competitors in the field as Richard Gibson Jr and Kerrington Rolle combined for a 59 net to win the St Augustine’s College Alumni Association’s inaugural Unca Lou Golf Tournament.

The two-man scramble event was played on Saturday at the Royal Blue Golf Course at the Baha Mar Resort.

Gibson Jr, a member of staff at the Royal Blue Golf Club, said while he hasn’t had that much time to work on his game as he devoted a lot of time assisting tournament director Georgette Rolle-Harris with the junior golf programme, said he was delighted to get the win, especially with Rolle.

“I’ve known Kerrington a while. I’ve had him under my wings. He abandoned me after he went to Albany, but he’s a good student,” Gibson Jr said.

“Some of the things I taught him, I see he really got better at it.

“He definitely putt his butt off today. He made a lot of putts. I gave him some lines and he dropped everything, every single one. He made a lot of putts for us. That was what helped us to win today.”

In their first time playing together in a tournament, Rolle concurred with Gibson Jr that he did most of the work.

“I could have stroke the ball a little better, but it was all good,” said Rolle, the 13-year-old eighth grader at the Windsor High School. “He (Gibson Jr) hit a lot of lines. Hopefully we will get to play a little more tournaments in the future.”

While Gibson Jr and Rolle celebrated as the gross winners with a score of 60, 14 other teams picked up prizes based on their performances in the net category, including Chemari Pratt and Felix Stubbs, who came in second with 62 and Marche and Miller were tied with 64.

In order the rest of the way, Fred Wright and Harry Fountain got fourth with 65, the same score as Ashley Michel and Phillip Pinder and the combo of Harry Louis and Steve Wallace, Bill Casale and Brian Coakley as well as Antoine Roberts and Tyesha Tynes both shot 69, with 70 were the duos of Colin Lightbourne and Lambert Knowles, Horace Miller and Justin Miller, Huey Riley and Norris Miller and Anton McDonald and Bradley Strachan, while the pairs of Peter McIntosh and Tatum Curtis, Dwayne Whylly Sr and Jr and Chase Newbold and Michael Rolle all shot 71.

National Hall of Fame basketball player Sterling ‘Robert Lloyd’ Quant won the men’s closest to the pin on hole three, Harry Fountain did it on hole seven, Jim Laroda on 12 and Bill Casale on 16.

Chase Newbold took the men’s longest drive and Maranda Tucker got it for the ladies. Tiar Agaro-Gibson won the ladies’ closest to the pin title.

Committee chairman Michael Rolle said despite the threat of the rain, the turnout was right around what they had anticipated.

“For a first time tournament, the turnout was excellent and the weather was also excellent,” Rolle said.

“We are very encouraged by this. We now have a template for it, so next year we will be a lot more organised and ready with an early start before the rainy season.”

Appreciative of what she saw, Daria Adderley said the tournament held in honour of her father, Leviticus ‘Uncle Lou’ Adderley was a testament to his dedication to sports and academics, not just at SAC, but throughout the country.

“What the SAC Alumni and Mike Rolle and his committee has done in pulling off the tournament is outstanding,” said Adderley, who is now a physical education teacher at SAC. “My mom and I and the family commend them for it.

“We also want to thank the persons who came out and participated. It was a great success.”

SAC’s new principal Marici Thompson said while the dream for this event was in the making two years ago, but had to be postponed because of COVID-19 and delayed again in May, she’s happy that it finally got off the ground.

“We’re also happy that the Alumni Association wants to actually contribute to the Field of Dreams at SAC,” said Thompson, a graduate of SAC. “Deacon Adderley coached and mentored athletes in every sport and this was a dream of his.

“So we want to get that completed as soon as we can, small portions at that. We want to start with the softball fields, hopefully by the fall so we can play inter-school sports on our campus. We will then go to basketball, track and field and volleyball.”

As for the multipurpose gymnasium, Thompson said they will continue to push for the construction of the building, which has been a major goal of Adderley during his tenure as the first Bahamian principal at SAC.

And SAC’s Alumni Association president Cherelle Cartwright said although she’s elated for the initial event, the support from their corporate sponsors made a huge difference, along with the former students of SAC, who donated, came out and either lent their support or participated in the event.

“All in all, I expect better things next year,” she said. “We had great prizes, including a BMW on hole 12 for a hole-in-one shot. We had televisions to stays at Comfort Suites, Baha Mar and Westgate. We were happy that we delivered.

“To the golfers who played, they were excited about the prizes and they are already anticipating next year’s event.”

In October, Cartwright said the Alumni Association will organise a Fashion Extravaganza instead of hosting their Lighthouse Gala Awards Banquet, which will return next year with at least 30 honourees.

Cartwright, now in the first year of her second three-year term in office, expressed her gratitude to Thompson for her support of the Alumni Association and together, she hopes they will only continue to grow and push the efforts of the association forward.

“I have two more years in my term and I would like to see us hit the two million mark in terms of funds generated by the time I leave office,” she said.