Two of the four women who competed in this year’s Guyana Golf Open say though they played to win, they did not expect much of a challenge from the listing and are disappointed at the small number of women players.
Surinamese Petra Beems, captain of Paramaribo Golf Club and the only woman in an 11-member team from that country, said she was disappointed that only four women players contested this year’s open.
“You have your Christine Sookram and it will be very difficult for me to beat her, but we enjoy it, that’s why we came to Georgetown to have fun and enjoy the golf course,” she told Stabroek Sport at a cocktail reception sponsors Banks DIH hosted for the players Friday evening.
Joaan DeoPetra Beems
Beems called Sookram a talented player, saying that she had observed her playing.
Asked why other women players did not travel to Guyana, Beems noted that it would have been difficult for some of the players to travel.
Beems said this was her fifth trip to Guyana, though she did not compete in the two previous Open tournaments.
Local player Joaan Deo said though she expected a better turn-out in the women’s category of the Guyana Open the line-up was not surprising.
“We are used to it, last year it was like two or three came down and the year before it was four I think,” she said.
According to Deo, there is still a small number of women competing while there are almost 70 male competitors.
Deo added that she entered the competition with confidence, though she did not expect it to be a real challenge. She has played against the Surinamese women before but not against Beems in Guyana. Two local players contested this year’s Open in the women’s grouping along with Beems and a player from French Guiana. This is the first year that French Guiana was participating in the Guyana Open.
President of Lusingan Golf Club, Brian Hackett said several attempts have been made to attract women to the sport but they have not garnered much success.
The Guyana Open, which ended on Sunday, was won by Nazeem `Papo’ Haniff and Christine Sukhram.
