Justin Burrowes and William Knibbs will represent Jamaica at the 8th Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC) (golf) between Thursday January 12 to 15, in Puerto Rico at the par 72 Grand Reserve Golf Course. They wrapped up their practice rounds on Wednesday.
They were invited by the LAAC executive committee on behalf of the Masters Tournament, The R&A, and the United States Golf Association (USGA), based on their position in the World Amateur Golf RankingTM.. Burrowes is ranked at 973 while Knibbs is ranked at 979.
Burrowes will be competing in the championship for the fourth time while Knibbs will be making his third trip to the event.
Burrowes’ best performance to date was 2022 when he was tied for 34th place with a combined four-day score of 10 over par 298.
Knibbs who is yet to make the cut hopes to do so this time around, on his third time competing in the championship.
Jamaica has been participating in the championships since it started in 2015. It has always sent two representatives to the championship. These include Ian Facey who is now a professional golfer, Sean Morris and Jonathan Newnhan. The island’s best placed golfer in the tournament to date is Facey who tied for 24th in 2015 with a best round of 68 on the first day and a four-day total of 4 over par 292.
Defending champion, nineteen year old Aaron Jarvis of the Cayman Islands shot seven under par 281 for the win in 2022. He will be on the course again to try to pull off another win.
The championships will feature one hundred eight golfers from the Latin American and the Caribbean. Host country Puerto Rico will have nine golfers on the course, as per the tournament rules. There is a cut line of the top fifty golfers at the end of the second day. Some of the competing countries are Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Barbados, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Haiti, , Trinidad & Tobago, Panama, Venezuela and Jamaica.