Dear Editor,
The Nov 5 letter in the Stabroek News, ‘Change in method for picking female winner of Guyana Open golf distasteful,’ raises a number of issues in Guyana, where golf is concerned.
First, let me recap a few things.
Avinash Persaud dethroned his younger brother and defending champion Avinder Kishore to take the top prize and he did this by having the best gross score. Some tournaments are basically for fun and the best net takes the title (even though the best gross will be highlighted). This is very okay and it allows for motivation in golf and also for a good spread where newcomers are enticed and lesser players are not kept out.
However, on ‘the day’ Guyana wants the best golfer to be declared champion. Last year it was Avinder and this year it is Avinash; that is, on the men’s side.
All the time the best gross scoring system was used and quite rightly so. We need a true champion and it is via a ‘best gross’ that this has always been established.
The same is true when we think about the female category. For almost a decade the humble village girl Christine Sukhram has been the dominant female player. She was on a roll and God knows when she would have been stopped.
However, at this Digicel Guyana Open a most strange thing happened: the ‘best net’ suddenly clicked in and this only for the female category. This is maybe a testimony to what is probably happening at the Lusignan Golf Club. Something is not right here.
In fact, this is a ‘first time’ and the matter should be addressed. It should be noted (and shouted too) that Joann Deo did not do as well as Christine and yet she has been declared champion. I will await someone to pronounce on some issues – who makes the rules; who changes them; whether there is a democratic system; whether the rich and affluent are dominating things; whether Ms Deo is convinced she is the champion, etc.
Avinash was 140/144; so he won. His gross was superior.
Joann Deo finished with 67/87 to take the top prize – the top prize must not be tantamount to a championship title here – it was never so. Why?
Sukhram’s scores on the day were (74/83), that is her gross of 83 was four strokes better than Deo’s 87.
If we spell out the handicap of these two players, then we will see the glaring disparity in their qualities; it will actually embarrass Deo. I was told that she is a student at the University of Guyana. If such be the case, she should do the right thing and ask that the decision be rescinded.
I add here that even if the matter remains closed, any golfing personality will admit that Christine Sukhram is the authentic 2014 female champion; she won the said tournament by four strokes. Years from now, if the records be well archived, someone will remember Deo as the 2014 lady’s champion who did not win (to secure same).
Yours faithfully,
Genevieve Glassgow
