Jamaica’s William Knibbs had a tough day on the fourth and final day of the 8th Latin America Amateur Golf Championship (LAAC) at the Grand Reserve Golf Course in Puerto Rico.
He posted eight over par 80 on Sunday to end the championship on 13 over par 301 to place 52nd on the leader board.
His scores on the three previous days were one over par 73 and two over 74 to make the cut at three over par 147 after the second round. He posted another two over par 74 for the third round for a three-day score of five over par 221 at the point.
He started his final round on hole number 10 with a bogey and followed up that with a double bogey on 13, bogey on 15 and 18 for five over par 40 on his front nine. The back nine was tough going as well with a double bogey on hole number 4 then bogey on holes five and seven. He posted the only birdie of the round on his final hole of the championship (#9) for three over par on the back nine and eight over par 80 for the round.
William Knibbs was philosophical about how he ended the championship but pleased at the same time for making the cut for the first time, on his third attempt. “Today was a tough day. Got off to a slow start and wasn’t able to get things back on track. Sometimes with golf you can be so close to doing things so well, but it feels like you are miles away at the same time. All in all, it was a tremendous week for me. It was so good to make the cut. I am gonna take the momentum that I got from making the cut and just build on that.”
Justin Burrowes who was Jamaica’s other competitor in the championship did not make the cut for the first time in four appearances.
The 2022 winner, Aaron Jarvis of the Cayman Islands scored two under par 70 for an overall total of four under par 284 (72, 70, 72, 70) and tied for the 17th position with one other golfer.
Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira of Argentina set a new record on his way to being crowned the 2023 Latin America Amateur Champion ahead of runner-up Luis Carrera who topped the leader board on the second day. Fernandez de Oliveira posted a whopping 23 under par 265 (68, 67, 67, 63) for the win while Carrera was four shots behind on 19 under par 269.
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