Turks and Caicos Mounts RBC Royal Bank Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships (CAGC 2011) Challenge

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Veteran golfer Rodney Lavard will lead a team of 11 golfers from the Turks and Caicos seeking victory in the RBC Royal Bank sponsored 55th Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships (CAGC 2011) which tee off from 1st to 6th August at the Millennium Lakes Golf Club, Trinidad and Tobago.

This will mark the twelfth occasion that Trinidad and Tobago will host the Championships and the first time that the Millennium Lakes Golf Club, with its par 71 Championship layout, will be serving as host course. RBC Royal Bank has been named title sponsor of this, the Caribbean’s premier golfing event.

Turks and Caicos boasts a team of 11 talented players determined to better their previous performance, including:

• Mike Adamo, an avid competitor, who is representing the Turks & Caicos Islands National Golf Team for the second time

• John Donatien, well known as Provo Golf Club’s best “Bag Room Attendant” and entering his 4th Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships

• Fraser Dods, current President of the Turks and Caicos Golf Association and past club champion of the Provo Golf Club.

• Terry Erskine, one of the most popular figures on the Provo golf scene, whose wife competed in the women’s championships last year

• Will Shoreman, a senior Architect who is looking forward to playing in his second Caribbean Amateur tournament in Trinidad

• Chris Bruno, VP of the Turks and Caicos Golf Association who has won and placed in numerous club tournaments

• Bill Confer, playing in his third Caribbean Amateur Championship; he is past Club Champion at Queen’s Harbour Yacht & CC, Jacksonville, Florida.

• Jumphol (JP) Srinark who has represented TCI in several Hoerman Cups and the 2007 & 2009 Caribbean Cups. He has countless tournament wins at the Provo Golf Club including the 2009 TCI Amateur and is the reigning Club Champion

• Graham Malyan, a Retired Engineer, playing in his is his Third Caribbean Amateur Championships

• Richard Sanmiya, a retired school teacher who will be playing for the TCI National team in the Caribbean Championships for the eighth time.

• Rodney Lavard is a veteran of the Caribbean Championships, having represented his national team in all but two championships since his debut in 1996

Rodney was introduced to golf in early 1994 at the age of 17 when he started working for the Provo Golf and Country Club and fell in love with the sport, developing into a pretty good golfer in a short period of time. In 1997, he won a four-year golf scholarship to Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he was the Team Captain for the last two years, tasting success with one win and several top five finishes.

In sharing plans for the event, President of the Trinidad and Tobago Golf Association, Robert Costelloe was effusive in his praise for the main sponsors. “We are quite pleased that RBC Royal Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the region, has agreed to assume the role of Title Sponsor for the CAGC 2011; they, have brought significant resources to the successful management and hosting of the event,” he said.
Challenging the hosts for regional supremacy on the links will be teams from around the region including Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands, The Bahamas, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Jamaica, Barbados and Cayman Islands.

When asked about their chances of success at the tournament, the Turks and Caicos Islands Golf Association replied: “Rodney has represented Turks and Caicos in all but two Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships and plans to continue to be a part of the national team for years to come…we believe that with his leadership and experience we will be a force for the foreseeable future.”