This past weekend, the sixth Belize Open was played on the beautiful course of Grand Coral in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Rodrigo Barrera, a Belizean national, was crowned champion, thus becoming the first Belizean to win on foreign soil. He joins the exclusive company of his father Saul Barrera (2007), Korie Williams (2008), Robie Espat (2009), Jackie Rosado (2010) and Sam Mathias (2011) as champions of the Belize Open.

This yearly two-day tournament is the biggest organized by the Belize Golf Association (BGA), where 45 golfers from Colombia, Spain, Italy, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama and Belize all competed for this prestigious trophy. The tournament is divided by categories, but there is also an overall winner. Category A (0-5 handicap) was won by Mexican Carlos Perrichon; Category B (6-15) by Mexican Marco de Real; along with the overall, Rodrigo Barrera also won his Category C (16-29 handicap); and Guatemalan Mariano Rodriguez took the Category D (30-36 handicap). Rodrigo Barrera was the only player to shoot his handicap with a net score of 142 for both days, followed by second Jesus Osuna from Mexico with a net score of 146.

Other notables from Belize included Amir Escobar, who was the leader after the first round of Saturday, which helped him get the second place of the Category D; and Saul Barrera, Jr., who took third place of that same category. With the absence of a women’s category, Lolita Capdevila from Spain surprised everyone in winning third place in the C category, which obliged her to tee off from the same place with the men in that category.

We congratulate all Belizeans in not only organizing such a beautiful tournament, but also in representing Belize in such a worthy fashion.