SIMPSON BAY—The 24th St. Maarten Open Golf Tournament teed off with a cocktail party for all the players at Sunset Beach Bar last night.
Close to a 100 players are contesting the tournament this year from countries such as Anguilla, St. Kitts, USA, UK, the Netherlands, Canada, and Dutch St. Maarten/ French St. Martin.
22 players are registered from the French side. A professional from Anguilla was last year’s winner for the overall championship Gross.
“We have over 110 sponsors who all give something as well as Platinum sponsors at US$1500,” said President of the St. Maarten Golf Association Keith Graham. “It’s a very successful tournament, well run, and becoming very well known. Between 2010 and 2015 we raised US$ 60,000 for youth charities.
“The beneficiaries know who they are in advance and the stipulation is that they come to the course and help out.”
Asked what the course is like at the moment, Graham said: “It’s very dry of course. But last year Mullet Bay bought a water truck which was built by one of our sponsors so the greens are watered and this year we put in some T Box grass and hoping to keep that going but that’s the only thing we can do. The fairways are what they are.”
He added: It’s a two-day event so you can’t afford to mess up. It’s not like a scramble or anything like that. The best player wins. We go off in two waves; one in the morning and one in the afternoon, 50 at a time, and it usually takes four hours a round.”
The awards ceremony, silent auction, and raffle to raise funds for the youth charities takes place at Sky Beach at 6:00pm on Sunday.
