SPORTS SECTION E
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016
NAUGHTY
Column, Page 3
Hurricane Matthew rips through 9-hole golf course By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
H
aving started the project about six years ago with more than $4 million invested into it, businessman Craig Flowers said the damage from the passing of Hurricane Matthew will not deter him from completing the Bahamas Golf Federation’s nine-hole golf course. But the former BGF president, who has personally made the commitment to the project, said while the course at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex was almost completed, the storm will set the project back. “The majority of the damage was done by the wind. We didn’t have that much rain,” said Flowers as he made an inspection yesterday following two days of clean up by a hired crew of workers. “We conditioned the area for flooding and not anything else. The high intensity wind that we experi-
THE AFTERMATH: A large tree blown over at the Bahamas Golf Federation’s Driving Range. enced caused a lot of damage to the vegetation. Most of the trees are somewhat above the level that we are walking and that is because when we graded the land here, it was for the purpose of maintaining the trees.” However, Flowers said in their advanced planning, they constructed walls as barriers around the trees,
which helped to secure the trees that remained standing after the passing of the category 4 storm on Thursday. “Unfortunately, due to funding and a lot of other things, we weren’t able to get to some of the trees at the back end of the property,” he said. “We intended to put them up, but we just
never got there. So along the border of the property, we had a lot of trees that were damaged. “A lot of trees were toppled over and a lot of them have been uprooted from the bottom because of the grading of the property. We really wanted to maintain the trees because of the environment so the birds and
the wild life that inhabit this property can survive.” Flowers, the owner of FML Group of Companies, said to be able to replace the trees, some of them which are at least 25 years old, maybe impossible but he will continue to improve the vegetation and beautify the place. “Some of the trees that were there were placed there to protect the holes when other players were playing on opposite holes,” he said. “So we are going to have to put some type of vegetation back to prevent ball flight from one hole to another. “That is going to be my major concern at this present place and time.” Six years ago, when Flowers and Agatha Delancy conceived the idea of developing a driving range at the site, they approached the then Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Neville Wisdom, who provided the land for them to begin the work. Wisdom was present for the ground breaking before he left office.
Buddy making ‘Buckets’
“I had no idea when I first started that I was going to be investing the type of funds in which I had done so far,” Flowers said. “I only came with the purpose of starting the driving range, but as time went on, the adjoining properties were made available to us and I took on the task of investing some four and-a-half to five million at this site. “One has to consider that before the property could be used to design the golf course, it had to be cleaned up. In using the old dump site, how much of the old material that was here has decomposed itself where there will be no environmental hazard for utilisation of this property. That took us some time because we were able to test the water contents and do a study of what type of wild life that could live in this environment.” With the golf course almost 90 per cent completed before the storm passed, Flowers said they have been
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STORM GUTS THE OLD TAR STADIUM, BAILLOU HILLS COMPLEX By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
ROCKETS PABLO PRIGIONI, right, passes the ball as New Orleans Pelicans Buddy Hield, of the Bahamas, attempts to block during their preseason NBA game in Shanghai, China, on Sunday. (AP Photo) By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net SPORTING a new look as his New Orleans Pelicans travelled to China, Buddy Hield has displayed his trademark sharpshooting skill in exhibition play that the organisation expects him to bring in the regular season. Through three preseason games thus far, Hield has averaged 17 points, 2.7 assists and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 40 per cent from three, 53 per cent from the field. With his trademark mohawk gone in favour of a more conven-
tional haircut, Hield’s focus was away from the court as he spoke about the Bahamas’ resilience facing storms as Hurricane Matthew approached. “It’s a scary time, when you have a hurricane coming to the Bahamas. People work hard down there. I’ve been through a lot of bad storms that tore up the whole island, and you have to rebuild from scratch. I just pray to God and pray for the Bahamas that Matthew doesn’t do too much damage down there,” he said when asked about Matthew’s possible impact on the Bahamas, “I used to talk to my mom, and back then you liked when there
was a storm, because there was no school, being a kid. But now as you get older and you experience hurricanes, it’s not a good time, because it hurts people financially, causes deaths, flooding, the winds tear houses apart. There are poles crashing on houses. There are so many things that can go wrong during a hurricane. You always hope that it doesn’t affect people badly. I pray God keeps blessing the Bahamas and protects the Bahamas.” The Pelicans complete their tour of China as a part of the NBA’s Global Games with their second matchup against the Houston Rockets tomorrow at 6:30am
local time. Hield made his preseason debut and finished with 19 points in the Pelicans’ 116-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks at the CenturyLink Center in Bossier City, Louisiana. He also added six rebounds, three assists and shot 8-12 from the field, including 3-6 from beyond three-point range. In game two, Hield scored a team high 18 points, shot 50 per cent from the field and 40 per cent from three-point range in a 11396 loss to the Indiana Pacers at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans Louisiana.
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AFTER the passing of Hurricane Matthew, it was obvious that there was a lot of structural damage to properties throughout New Providence. On inspection of the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre, the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium and the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium, which were both used as a hurricane shelter, as well as the National Tennis Centre and the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex, there was minimal damage. However, at the old Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium and further down the road at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex, there was quite a considerable amount of damage. Lawrence Hepburn, the maintenance manager for the National Sports Authority, said while the properties at the QESC are all just about intact, the old TAR Stadium and the softball stadiums at Baillou Hills were hit the hardest. “At the fields where the Bahamas Government League plays, there was considerable damage to the concession stand and all of the dugouts,” Hepburn said. “At the Banker’s Field, there was some damage but not as much as there was at the other softball field. I think they can get that up and running quicker than the other one.” The New Providence Softball Association currently occupies the Banker’s Field as they got the first
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