From Friday 27th June to Sunday 29th June, Anguilla’s stunning Greg Norman Signature Design Championship Golf Course at CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa played host to Golfers and their guests from all over the Caribbean and the United States that had come to play in the “Third Annual Anguilla Open sponsored by GE”. This stylish golf event is rapidly establishing itself as one of the most enjoyable and challenging tournaments in the region.
80 competitors from 12 countries competed in 5 different categories over 2 days of highly competitive Golf. Participants pronounced the course to be in great condition but difficult and challenging every day of the Open. Luckily that didn’t stop some great golf being played – especially in the Championship Flight and Women’s Flight where a new Anguilla Open and Course record was set. A number of Anguillian’s acquitted themselves extremely well and both Larry Stott and Val Bank’s won their flights and took home one of the unique Anguilla Open trophy’s, created by Cheddie, that are made out of “a piece of the rock”. Two other local players – Glen Gumbs and Joseph Shillingford also placed highly and won prizes.
Each competitor enjoyed one practice and two competitive rounds of Golf on the immaculately maintained golf course as well as an evening reception (sponsored by Inovateus Solar), complimentary beverage cart (courtesy of Veya Restaurant), lunches and an awards presentation (sponsored by Conair) at the luxurious CuisinArt Golf Clubhouse.
The winner of the Anguilla Open 2014 was Jeff Kostelnik from Palm Beach, Fl., (with a round of 161 (low gross). The other winners in the Championship Flight were both from St Kitt’s: Charles “Rock” Blake (low net) with a round of 158 and Raymond Percival was 2nd low gross with a round of 165. Mr. Kostelnik, who is 29 years old and from Palm Beach, Fl., played the course for the first time, and his round of 161 is the highest winning score to date – demonstrating just how ‘difficult’ the course played. The two previous winners of the Anguilla Open are Theron Loizos and Ryan Bowey.
The Men’s flight was dominated by players from Anguilla and Saint Martin – with Emmanuel Garcia of Saint Martin winning low gross and Anguilla’s Larry Stott winning low net. Mr. Stott’s impressive net score of 135 ensured he also won the prize for overall low net across all flights. Other winners in the Men’s Flight included Yannick Cazemajou of St Martin (2nd gross) and Joseph Shillingford of Anguilla (3rd Gross) and Jonathan Haillant (2nd Net) and Arnauld Martin (3rd net) of Saint Martin. In the Senior Flight Doug Menzies of St Croix won low gross with a stellar round of 161 and Anguilla’s Val Banks won Low Net. Cedric Jeffrs of Maryland and Bill Leacy from the USA won 2nd and 3rd Gross and ‘keeping it in the family,’ Alain Haillant of St Martin won 2nd net just like his son Jonathan! Glen Gumbs of Anguilla, one of the CuisinArt Golf Club staff, won 3rd low net. The Super Senior Flight was won by Philippe Thevenet of Saint Martin (low gross) with USA player Jim Perrus winning low net and Jean Pierre Mathieu of Saint Martin getting 2nd net.
Helene Thoman, a 32 year old amateur golfer from Toledo, Ohio, set a new course record and also won the Ladies Flight (low gross) with an excellent score of 154. Helene played golf in college at the University of Toledo. St Maarten Golfer Sidsel Jacobsen won low net with a highly respectable 139. Other ladies that placed were Mae Menzies of St Croix (2nd Gross), Angelique Schoop of Curacao2nd Net) and Julie Caprioni of St. Thomas (3rd Net).
In addition to the main championship winners, there were lots of fun prizes handed out including: “Most Improved “won by Dan Crim with an impressive improvement of 18 strokes; “Closest to the Pin” and “the Tandem Competition” – a tough challenge – where the prize was given to the Golfer who scored lowest gross score for 2 consecutive days on the courses most ‘difficult’ holes and was won by the Ladies Flight Champion – Helene Thoman.
At the Opening reception, Stephane Zaharia, Vice President & General Manager of CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa welcomed competitors to the Resort, which has recently been named one of the “Great Golf Resorts of the World” and encouraged them to book early for the 4th Anguilla Open in 2015 which will take place June 12 to June 14 as the event is likely to sell out early. He also explained that the beautifully lush course is now mainly “powered by the sun” as one of the Caribbean’s most extensive and innovative Solar projects was integrated into the Resort, and that all the water for the course is created in a sustainable, green way. He finished by thanking Mr. Peter Foss of GE and the Competition Sponsors for their ongoing support, Mr. TJ Kanczuzez of Inovateus Solar for sponsoring the Opening Reception and Conair Corporation for the food and beverage sponsorship.
Picture credits: Trudy Nixon and Larry Stott
– Contributed
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
