Keisha Hill, Staff Reporter

THE JAMAICA Open will return to the Half Moon golf course later this year after a 17-year absence from the venue.

The 72-hole, October event will feature a professional prize fund of US$100,000.

A field of 104 professionals and 40 amateurs golfers from Jamaica, the United States, Canada, South America, Central America and the Caribbean are expected to participate. European players from the European PGA Tour and the Challenge Tour are also expected to journey to Jamaica for the event.

Leading Jamaican players including 2006 Open champion Johnnie Bloomfield, European Senior tour player Delroy Cambridge and Peter Horrobin are expected to be in the hunt for the US$20,000 first prize.

The Jamaica Open was last held at Half Moon in 1991 and the prestigious event attracted big names like Bruce Fleisher and Jim Thorpe, Jamaica Open Champions respectively as well as several other well-known tour players.

The Half Moon course, originally designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., was given an elaborate Roger Rulewich makeover two years ago and now boasts a magnificent layout of scenic holes and tough challenges to test the sternest of golfers.

The Open will be held from October 20-26.