Under the sweltering heat at the Lusignan Golf course, Avinash Persaud retained his Digicel Guyana Open Golf Classic title when the curtains came down last evening on the two-day championship at the East Coast Demerara venue.Persaud started the final day (yesterday) with a Gross of 80 to easily take his sixth Guyana Open title, totaling a Gross of 154 and net of 150 to finish way ahead of the field of 67 golfers.

A decent crowd was on hand to see Mohanlall Dinanauth and Rishi Sukhram who went into final day sharing a Gross 76, could help but watch Persaud play some ‘Tiger Woods’ like shots on his way to securing another ‘Red Jacket’.

Persaud’s brother, Avinda Kishore was second with a with a Gross 160 and a net 154, while Alfred Mentore finished third with Gross 161 and a net 147.

Meanwhile, Shanella Webster was in superb form when she snatched the champion women’s trophy was the 2014 title holder Joann Deo to take home her first Guyana Open winner’s trophy.

Webster scored a net of 148, beating Deo into second place (net 150) and seasons campaigner Christine Sukhram who was in the lead heading into yesterday’s championship round with a net 73 but had to settle for third (net 151).

Kevin Kelly, Digicel’s Chief Executive Officer, said that his company was delighted to once again play its part in sponsoring the Guyana Open again this year, and pledged Digicel’s continued support for the event.

Lusignan Golf Club President Oncar Ramroop believes the tournament this year was much more competitive than previous ones, and lauded Digicel for once again coming on board to sponsor the event.

Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan; a former Club Captain, congratulated the Lusignan Golf Club for running off another success tournament and added that he believes that with Digicel has played in important role in bring the sport to the forefront in Guyana.

Both Webster and Persaud expressed heartfelt thanks to Digicel for sponsoring the event and said that next year, they are looking forward to defending their titles.

By Rawle Toney