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By Neto Baptiste
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Golf Association (ABGA), Jonathan Pigott, has hit back at claims that players are being asked to spend an inordinate amount of personal funds when travelling on national duty.
Pigott’s statement follows a plea for more financial support by veteran player Tedson Weatherill, who says he was forced to find over EC$4,000 to cover expenses related to his travel and the travel of his two daughters, Nicole and Kimberly for the recently held Eastern Caribbean Golf Association (ECGA) Championship in Anguilla.
“I’m kind of surprised that came out as a topic, knowing that we as a team came together, the association met with players and said to them, hey, this is the situation. All of us made a collective effort to seek sponsors, to extra assistance and we pulled it through. This was one of the sweetest championships and to be informed that a player would say that, it is a little disappointing with the work that the ABGA is putting in because we obviously want to send our players. We want to keep the beacon. We are the best in the Caribbean,” he said.
Pigott said the association had applied to the Ministry of Sports through the ADARP (Athletes Development Assistance Review Panel) initiative for funding since July but added they had yet to receive the requested assistance.
He went on to explain why players are being asked to partly fund their representation of the twin-island state.
“Anguilla was by far the most expensive trip we’ve had to do. Everything in Anguilla is in the US dollars. Last year to go to St. Kitts, a 12-man team cost us $38,000 and can add another $12,000, $13,000 EC on top of that for Anguilla. It’s not an easy thing and I don’t think people understand how hard it is for administrations. We talk about sponsors and of course we have sponsors, but you need more sponsors. We had to pay, for each player, $350. We paid for accommodation and we paid for airline,” he said.
Team Antigua and Barbuda emerged overall champions in the team low gross at the ECGA Championships held at the Aurora International Golf Club in Anguilla.