Juniors Connect With Bermuda Championship Players at Golf Clinic by Kim Swan

The Bermuda Championship kicked off tournament week by reaching out to the youth of Bermuda and their families who responded overwhelmingly positive at Port Royal on Sunday October 27th.

The Bermuda Championship Executive Director PH Horgan III coordinated a joint initiative between the Bermuda PGA and the Bermuda Golf Association whose members form the Bermuda contingent honoured to compete at the highest level available in golf – The PGA Tour.

The inaugural Bermuda Championship has softly launched with a Junior Golf Clinic featuring five (5) Bermudian golfers making history as the PGA Tour kicks off in Bermuda 🇧🇲 for the first time, with Kim Swan JP MP, Golf Ambassador for the Bermuda Championship, serving as Master of Ceremony.

It’s been 80 years since Bermudian Louis Rafael “Kid” Corbin played in the 1939 Canadian Open.

In later years he Louis Corbin returned to North America and featured on the leaderboard after 36 holes in the 1947 Canadian Open.

Lest we forget the 1971 British Open at Royal Birkdale Golf Club. It has been 48 years since Frank Rabain qualified for the British Open at Birkdale, Southport in England.

Also, it has been 36 years since Kim Swan (a PGA European Tour Member) played in the USF&G New Orleans Open courtesy of a sponsors exemption from the late Jack Moseley, USF&G’s Chairman of the Board.

Opportunity knocks in 2019, not only for the five Bermudian golfers participating, but also for local young people who are already being inspired by this awesome professional sports event.

The Bermuda Championship Junior Clinic on the Sunday preceding the start of the PGA Tour event, attracted a keen group of youngsters ranging in ages from 5 to 15 years together with their parents and family members.

The overriding message shared during the clinic, was the importance for children to have fun in a safe manner while golfing and to learn to focus on the key fundamentals:
• Aim
• Grip
• Posture/Ball Position/Stance
• Balance
• Rhythm

Following a personal introduction of each Bermudian participant and a demonstration of shots, all juniors attending were provided the opportunity to hit golf balls on the range under the supervision of the local professional golfers participating in the tournament .

Kenny Leseur Jr showed great interest sharing his knowledge with his peer group. It is hard to believe that he is only 15 years old, but the juniors clearly identified with him and it was a win – win experience. Kenny Jr shared with juniors that as a student athlete school work comes first before he can embark on any golfing and he confessed that that was also the case when he attended Warwick Academy in Bermuda.

Kenny Leseur’s father was also on hand, once a Bermuda Junior Champion himself, we took the opportunity to congratulate him for the encouragement he has provided for his son to make history.

There was an important message for parents to encourage them to golf with their children – golf offers a lifetime of quality family time together. In addition, girls in attendance were applauded and urged to continue with golf which provides an abundance of educational opportunities.

The general consensus was that the Bermuda Championship Junior Clinic set a good tone for a great week of golf.

The Bermuda Championship Executive Director PH Horgan, who was on hand to experience the Junior Golf Clinic, was noticeably ecstatic with the turnout and the interaction that took place between the juniors and local tournament participants (Daniel Augustus, Jared Dillas, Michael Sims, Dwayne Pearman and alternate Scott Roy).
The event proved to be a family outing and bode well for the launch of the inaugural Bermuda Championship on the PGA Tour.