Barrera winds first Belize Open golf tournament

Good evening I’m James Adderley and we welcome you to this version of Sports Monday. The semi-final round of the RFG Cup Tournament brought Tex Mar Boys of Mango Creek into the M.C.C. Grounds on Sunday to kick off the home and away series with F.C. Belize.

We’re just inside this ballgame when Ashley Torres tries to force the action off this spotkick only to meet strong resistance.

At the fifteenth minute, we find F.C. Belize on the counter-attack Deon McCauley takes advantage of poor defending to push this left foot past Stephen Lopez for the 1-zip F.C. lead.

Dion Flowers then gets this chance to double the lead, but is failed by the finishing touch. At the other end, respect is due both to Bernard Linares, who bends this spotkick around the wall, and Charlie Slusher, who comes up with a crucial save for F.C. Belize.

Jeromy James then tries to push the scoreboard with this long distance dial managed by goalkeeper Lopez. People, again Charlie Slusher is tested off the spotkick … and again he pulls through.

Talk about pulling through Charlie Slusher come sup really big when he stops Jose Lemus from scoring from pointblank long range and at intermission its still a 1-nil F.C. lead.

In second half, this floater spells danger for Tex Mar when Lopez gets his hands on the pill in a timely fashion. In the meantime, this header is uncontested and Ashley Torres should have done better with it. It’s as simple as that.

Downfield, Dion Flowers gets the break he’s been looking for in this ballgame, but his left foot launch is thwarted by Stephen Lopez. At the other end, Henry Jimenez gets this open look at goal, but fails to come up with the equaliser for the Tex Mar Boys.

Folks, after this scrambling attack we can only conclude Tex Mar Boys are not to score today. F.C. Belize goes on to post 1-zip big W in game one.

Game two of this series heads to the Michael Ashcroft Stadium on Saturday where the host team Tex Mar must win by two goals to arrive at the finals.

In the other semi-final showdown in this playoffs, Revolutionary Conquerors won the Dangriga Derby 3-zip on Sunday, which means in game two this Sunday at Dangriga, Wagiya will have to win by four goals to continue its title run.

Turning to the basketball news, action in the Shine Your Light Christian Basketball Tournament yesterday saw Cal-Port Flames engulf Sandhill Spirit 78-58, while M & M Promise Keepers rolled over Zoe Horizons 79-60. Both winners from this schedule now move into the three-game title series which begins at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday 27th May at the City Centre. It’s M&M Promise Keepers in action against Cal-Port Flames.

Now folks, we’re delving into pretty new territory, bringing you our first report on Belizean golf. In fact, the first open tournament was staged over the weekend at the Roaring River Estates by the Belize Golf Association. We’re on the back end of the ninth hole on Sunday, joining the leader from Saturday, Tim Robinson, as he begins this par four.

And in fact, he is being overtaken by this player Saul Barrera who is also the President of the Belize Golf Association. Robinson has a disastrous second shot as he fails to clear the obstacle to loose another two strokes, while Barrera gets himself a much better result.

And here is Saul Barrera, who came in with a handicap of twenty, putting for the win. The putt is good and Barrera is the winner of the first Belize Open Golf Tournament. And of course this is what he gets to take home.

James Adderley
“What is the difference between you the champion and the rest of the field?”

Saul Barrera, Winner
[Laughs] “Work. You saw, I have average for different formal tournaments, my score is 87, 88, for tournaments, official tournaments. This is the reason for my handicap. I try to train; I go to Guatemala to learn.”

James Adderley
“What does this win mean to Saul?”

Saul Barrera
“It’s beautiful, I like golf, I like the friends.”

James Adderley
“And you like to win.”

Saul Barrera
“I like.” [Laughs]

Korie Williams, who sinks his putt right here had a rather disappointing outing, finishing seventeenth at two over and was not happy with the handicapping before the tournament took off.

Korie Williams
“My expectations from a Belizean standpoint, I came in expecting to do well, not knowing what the foreigners were going to bring to the table and that’s what really throw me off track, because we had some foreigners come in and we didn’t know what they were bringing. We didn’t know their handicap and stuff and some of them played off some handicap that didn’t really match their score, but not trying to find any fault, I didn’t play to my expectations, you now, so I had a bad result at the end of the two days.”

Still people, Paul Martin, a pioneer and true disciple of golf had the vision and the ability to see his dream through.

Paul Martin, Owner, Roaring River Golf Course
“We been operating for about five years in Belize now and you can see from the people around you that we got a lot of players coming through here and we have a lot of younger players also getting involved in golf in Belize now. A lot of are promising players here. We’ve had our first international competition where we had players from different countries coming to compete against Belizeans here now and we feel that Belizeans are faring pretty well. We’ve got a long way to go.”

We certainly wish the golfing community maximum success and we must tell you folks, golf is not as easy as it looks, but it’s definitely more enjoyable than it appears.

Checking in on the Guinness nine ball pool tournament, on last week’s schedule Mike’s beat Tanga 6-4, Sunspree got a 10-zip W over MJ’s, and Advance sunk River Bottom 6-4.

This week’s schedule finds MJ’s facing Tanga on Tuesday. On Wednesday, River Bottom hooks up with Mikes, and on Thursday it’s Sunspree mixing it up with MJ’s.

Hey folks, that’s our show for today. We certainly invite you back on Monday. Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.