2006 Grand Final Half Moon Resort, Jamaica
Talk about a wise investment! On a wintry morning you filled in your entry form and posted your £40 payment to The Golfers Club in the vague hope that you might win a couple of rounds of matchplay and perhaps experience a new course or two. After two wins you start thinking the unthinkable. Perhaps I should book the week off work? Is my passport up to date? Where did I put that flowery shirt? Well for 32 golfers from around the UK and Eire the dream came true in October.
From an initial entry of some 1140 pairs, 16 teams (mens and mixed) finally won the trip of a lifetime to the magnificent Half Moon resort in Jamaica’s Montego Bay. Following four hard-fought rounds of matchplay and a tense regional final, the winners finally set foot on the warm tarmac of Sangster International Airport on 17th October, ready to do battle in this Caribbean paradise.
Although this is classed as the Grand Final of the Matchplay Championship, a stableford format is used in Jamaica, identical to the better-ball format employed for the Regional Finals. Three courses are used: Half Moon, Cinnamon Hill and The White Witch, all marvellous venues but totally different in style.
Left to right:
Nick Potter - Bupa Travel Services
Kevin & Christine Quinn : Mixed Pair Winners
John Woosey - The Golfers Club Managing Director
Ben Coombes & Ian White - Mens Pairs Winners
Diane Greenland - American Golf
Designed by Robert Trent Jones Snr, the Half Moon is closer to a ‘members’ course than the others. In other words, it takes repeated playing before it reveals its secrets and subtleties. A relatively flat course skirting the Caribbean coastline, Half Moon has undergone a multi-million dollar refurbishment and now provides a testing but hugely enjoyable experience. The caddies are knowledgeable and often good players, each with an uncanny ability to read greens accurately and explain the mysteries of putting on grainy surfaces. So much more than a bag carrier, each caddy is a character with a story to tell and a unique slant on life.
