Champion, James Johnson, studies a shot on the greens at the Sandy Lane Country Club, en route to winning the 2012 United Insurance Golf Open.
It’s Johnson by 16!
9/17/2012
By Alan Harris
HE led from start to finish and now he has more titles than fingers or toes.
In commanding fashion, James Johnson captured his 11th Barbados Open title yesterday, returning to the Sandy Lane Country Club clubhouse with a two-over-par score of 74 for a three-day gross of 213.
There wasn’t much to write back home about the chasing pack as Barbados’ most decorated golfer romped to victory by 16 strokes, finishing local golf’s unofficial three-day national championships at three-under-par.
“I played pretty solid during the weekend and things have been going pretty good for me this whole year,” said Johnson, who also won the Trinidad and Tobago Open in March, the Sir Garfield Sobers Golf Championships in April and the St. Kitts and Nevis Open in May.
The 32-year-old also finished sixth at last month’s Caribbean Golf Championships.
“I didn’t play particularly well at the Caribbean Championships in St. Kitts, so it feels good to be back in form. And to win by 16 shots, that’s not too bad either.”
Judd Cozier shot 38 on the front and 37 on the back to finish with a three-over-par 75 yesterday. His third round score left him with a gross of 229, good enough to finish second to Johnson in the Men’s Championship flight.
Marcus Clarke finished third, two strokes behind Cozier. He carded a seven-over-par 79 yesterday to finish with a gross score of 231.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Dave Rajkumar finished fourth, while Julian Jordan rounded out the top five.
Among the women, the consistent Muffin Stollmeyer shot 79 yesterday and distanced herself from the field to win by 24 strokes. A three-day gross of 235 saw her finish well clear of Mavi Vergos (259), Julia Stephenson (267), Zerina Belgrave (324) and Christine Long (337).
In the Men’s First flight, featuring 42 players with handicaps ranging between 10 and 21, Spencer Smith enjoyed the best result of his fledgling career.
The 14-year-old St. Michael School student shot 89 yesterday to finish with a three-day score of 249. It left him five shots clear of Sherland Forde (254) and six shots clear of Trevor Tasker (255), despite Forde and Tasker carding better final round scores of 86 and 87 respectively.
“I tried to hit the fairways on a consistent basis. Sometimes that didn’t happen, but I just kept my head up and played through it,” said Smith.
“I came back with some good shots so now I’m hoping to improve my game and win other events in the near future.”
In the Men’s Senior flight, Michael Haynes won by four strokes from Ricky Skeete and Robert Piggott. Haynes shot 77 yesterday, Skeete 78 and Piggott 79 for three-day scores of 227, 231 and 232.
In the Men’s Super Senior flight, Monty Chapman finished five strokes clear of Bill Weir and eight strokes clear of Stephen Farmer. Chapman and Weir shot 76 yesterday, while Farmer returned 82 for three-day scores of 225, 230 and 233.
