Barbadian Golf Juniors competing in international tournament in Argentina
Thu, 10/20/2016 - 12:36am
Barbados’ top two female junior golfers are now in Argentina, competing in the inaugural Annika Sorenstam Latin America Invitational junior tournament in Buenos Aires.
Twelve-year-old Emily Odwin and 15-year-old Alyssa Inniss-Gittens, both national junior players, are among 60 female juniors from 20 countries taking part in the tournament, which tees off today, Thursday October 20 and ends Saturday October 22 at the Hurlington Club.
The invitational event, which is to be hosted in Argentina for the next three years, was established through a partnership involving the R&A (world governing body of golf) and the Annika Foundation, which was founded by retired Sweden-born professional and LPGA champion, Annika Sorenstam.
Both Barbadian juniors are hoping to use the exposure to improve their games and will also benefit from two clinics to be conducted by Sorenstam, one of the best female professional golfers of all time and a ten-time winner of majors. The former World No.1 will share her “winning approach” philosophy with the young players who range in age from 12-16 years.
“This is a really a fantastic opportunity and great exposure for our female juniors. I am sure they will be better players when they return to Barbados…Emily and Alyssa are among those who came through the BGA’s development programme and have been showing great improvement over the past year,” said BGA President Trevor Tasker.
Earlier this year Odwin won a gold medal in the under-13 division of the Caribbean Junior Championships, while Inniss-Gittens made her senior debut for Barbados in the George Teale Cup in the Caribbean Championships in the Bahamas.
The winner of the 2016 Annika Latin America Invitational will receive an exemption into the 2017 South American Amateur Open in Peru, while the top-three finishers will receive invitations to the 2017 USA Annika Invitational in Orlando, Florida.
Chief Executive of The R&A, Martin Slumbers said: “We are delighted to be working with Annika to establish the ANNIKA Invitational Latin America and this is another important development in our efforts to support the growth of golf in the region.”