Christopher Richards Jr, Mario Reyes, Marisa Groenewald and Eugene Edwin emerged victorious as the Saint Lucia Open made a long-awaited return to the Sandals Cap Estate Golf & Country Club after a nine-year absence.
But the real winner was the sport itself, with nearly 80 players from 16 territories competing across three days and 56 holes. The Saint Lucia Golf Association (SLGA) hailed the event’s success, with plans already underway for the 2026 edition.
Top finishers in the championship division earned World Amateur Golf Ranking points. Richards, a Trinidad & Tobago native, claimed the title, finishing eight strokes ahead of Saint Lucia’s Romanus Inglis. The 20-year-old second-generation golfer carded a +5 218 (73, 73, 72), while Inglis secured second with a +13 226 (77, 71, 78), narrowly edging out Trinidad & Tobago’s Liam Bryden (+14 227).
“The course played pretty well,” Richards said. “The competition against the other players was great. Romanus, who plays here all the time; was in a fight with him for the entire day. Great player. The course is pretty good. I would love to see the course in the wet season. It was a little dry, but the greens were fine, so it made up for it.”
Richards is eyeing a return next year when the tournament will again tee off the weekend before the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival, a prospect that delights SLGA president Mario Reyes. He hopes this year’s event marks the beginning of a bright future for the competition.
Reyes, who opted to compete in the men’s division rather than the seniors, defended his title despite battling jet lag. His +43 256 (80, 83, 93) was just enough to edge out Trinidad & Tobago’s Warren Steele and West Indies men’s cricket head coach Daren Sammy, both at +44 257.
“Three days of golf, it was tough,” Reyes said. “I just got back on the island, jetlag was killing me. Practice on Thursday, got my three rounds in, and it was quite awesome. It was tough, but it was good. I’ve been saying to the [older] guys, ‘You all need to stop using this age thing as an excuse to play off the white tees’. So I went back to the blue tees, which is the men’s category, and I said, ‘I’ll give them an example of what to do’. I did it, and I won.”
In other divisions, Groenewald dominated the ladies’ category with a +23 236, ahead of Catherine Spooner at +45 258 (81, 90, 87) and Frenchwoman Marjolaine Chanol +65 278 (87, 99, 92).
Edwin secured the seniors’ title at +7 220 beating Naveen Urs +33 246 (85, 81, 80). Gerard Saint-Aime of France hit +25 238 (82, 81, 75) to win the super seniors with Igna Smart of Barbados second +33 246 (80, 82, 84) and Saint Lucia’s McHale Andrew a close third, +35 248 (84, 81, 83). Frenchman Léon Cosmon was the sole professional. He scored a +16 229 (73, 77, 79).
Net division winners included Nicholas Beaubrun (championship), Reyes and Groenewald, Bertrand Johannes (seniors), and McHale Andrews (super seniors). Marie Lenervilland and Dr Dharmendra Shah took top honours in the Stableford competitions.
