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• Zandre Roye and Mattea Issa claim National Amateur Golf titles

  Zandre Roye and Mattea Issa were crowned national amateur golf champions on Sunday at the Caymanas Golf Course in St. Catherine after three challenging rounds.

  Both golfers are first time champions. Issa won by seven shots while Roye won by four after posting his best score in the final round.

  Roye matched his first round four birdies but only had two bogeys to close the round on two under par 70 after scoring one under 35 for the front nine and another one under par 35 for the back nine.

  His birdies came on holes number two, six, seventeen and eighteen while the bogeys were on holes four and sixteen. His three-round scores were one under par 71, five over par 77 and 70 for a total of three over par 219.

  He was pleased with copping his first national championship after getting close on several occasions.

  “Coming into this tournament year after year and seeing the trophy and wondering when I am going to get my name on it and its just my time now," he said.

  “The course conditions were a little bit tricky out there with it being so dry but we are used to the conditions. I think I manage the game today out of all three days, pretty well. The putting was just not there this weekend but I hit a lot of greens and that helped a lot,” Roye added.

  2022 national champion Oshae Haye moved from third place on the first and second day to end the in second place, four shots behind Roye. Haye posted scores of three over par on day one and two respectively and one over par 73 on the final day for a combined score of seven over par 223.

  Junior golfer Trey Williams performed very well in the championship after taking over the lead at the end of the second round with a one under par 71 but was pegged back in the final round with four over par 76 in the third round. His total score of eight over par 224 included 77 in the first round, to be one stroke off the runner-up spot.

  First time national female champion Mattea Issa got the better of many-time national champion Jodi Munn Barrow to win by seven shots.

  Issa's final day scorecard showed three birdies, six bogeys and two double bogeys for seven over par 79.

  Her first and second round scores were nine over par 81 on each day for a combined score of 25 over par 241. Munn-Barrow's scores were 84, 81 and 83 for a total of 32 over par 248, for the runner-up spot.

  "It feels really good. I am really happy. I am very happy for the win but diving deeper more into my game I wish I have played better. I have been playing really well recently and I am not sure if it’s the combination of the conditions, it’s very dry at the moment, the greens are in the best shape so I just have to figure out how I can properly play the course because I know that everybody had a difficult time this weekend. So, I just have to analyze that and keep on progressing and keep on getting better," said a very pleased Issa. 

  Another former national champion Sean Morris copped the trophy for the national senior champion on the back of scores of 84, 74s and even par 72 to close the championship at 12 over par 228.

  The national super senior champion was Keith Stein 227 (78, 71, 78). Philip Prendergast 232 (72, 82, 78) bagged the runner-up spot while former Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) president Wayne Chai Chong 235 (85, 76, 74) was third.

  Munn-Barrow, the current JGA president praised the players for their performances.

  “What we saw was very good performances from all of our juniors in all of the various categories. So, it was a good week, the only disappointment for this week was the lack of sponsorship of our national event. I am hoping that next year we can get sponsorship so we can have an even bigger and better event.”

   

• Verstappen underwhelmed by 'boring' Monaco Grand Prix

  Max Verstappen reflected on a "really boring" Monaco Grand Prix during a "weekend to forget" for Red Bull.

  The world number one failed to improve on his sixth-place start, after struggling to catch George Russell as he failed to finish on the podium for just the second time this season.

  Verstappen fared better than team-mate Sergio Perez though, as the Mexican was involved in a huge crash just seconds into the race, forcing him out of it after an already poor qualifying.

  Despite being underwhelmed by their performance in Monaco, Verstappen said there were still positives to take from it.

  After the race, he said: "This has been a really tricky challenging weekend with a lot of damage [to Perez's car]. Probably a weekend to forget, but also one to learn a lot from.

  "The only positive to come out of this weekend is that we understand what our big weakness is and that's what we really have to work on. I think if we can solve that and make it decent, we can gain a lot of lap time and we need to do that.

  "We finished where we started. The strategy got ruined with the red flag, so we had to back it up on the medium [tyre]. From lap one on the restart, it was driving four seconds off the pace. Just really, really boring.

  "Naturally we will [see more excitement in Canada]. It still won't be the easiest weekend because of the curbing - our cars aren't very good at that. They've resurfaced the track though, so that might bring something unexpected.

• Monaco Grand Prix win a 'dream', says Leclerc

  Charles Leclerc says he has fulfilled his dreams after winning the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time.

  After claiming pole for the third time on home soil, Leclerc was able to hold onto first and finish on the Monaco podium for the first time.

  Despite an early red flag forcing a restart, the Monegasque was in control throughout, finishing seven seconds ahead of second-place Oscar Piastri.

  It is Leclerc's first win of 2024, and Ferrari's second of the season after Carlos Sainz’s victory at the Australian Grand Prix in March.

  Speaking after Sunday's victory, he said: "No words can explain that. It's such a difficult race. I think the fact twice I've been starting on pole position, and we couldn't quite make it makes it even better in a way.

  "It means a lot, obviously. It's the race which made me dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver one day.

  "Fifteen laps to the end you're hoping nothing happens, and the emotions are coming.

  "My dad has given everything for me to be here, and it was a dream of ours for me to race here and win here, so it's unbelievable.

  "A huge thank you, the parade laps were special and seeing so many of my friends and people I know in the balcony, it was just very special. This one means a lot."

  Piastri put in an assured drive to finish second, holding off Sainz to prevent a Ferrari one-two and was pleased with the way the race turned out.

  "Thanks to the team. It's been a great weekend all-round. Nice to put a result on the board. I've been strong the last few weekends but didn't have the result to show for it. Nice to have a podium," he said.

  "Charles has been mega all weekend. They have been quick from the very first lap.

  "I'm happy with P2. A good result for the team. Very, very happy."