Triple J donates 2020 MX-5 for Chamber golf tourney

Triple J Motors general manager Sean Ficke, right, presents the brand new 2020 Mazda MX-5 convertible club edition yesterday to Saipan Chamber of Commerce officials as donation for hole-in-one prize in the Saipan Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament that will be held on Aug. 8 at the Laolao Bay Golf & Resort. (Kimberly A. Bautista)

The Triple J Motors signed up as a hole-in-one sponsor for the Saipan Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament, donating a brand new 2020 Mazda MX-5 convertible club edition.

Sean Ficke, general manager for Triple J Motors, said Triple J has been a hole-in-one sponsor of the tournament in the last five years and they always look forward to someone winning a brand new car.

“On behalf of Triple J and the Jones family, we look forward to a successful tournament and wish them the best of luck and we look forward to someone winning this car. We really appreciate everything the Saipan Chamber does for Saipan and the CNMI. We’re really excited to be a part of this and support them,” he said.

Chamber board member Shayne Villanueva said their group’s partnership with Triple J has been great in the last 10 years of the tournament and they always look forward to it every year.

“We’d like to say thank you to Triple J for donating the Mazda and its always been a great partnership and we look forward to doing more again,” he said.

Villanueva said this year’s tournament set for Aug. 8 at the Laolao Bay Golf & Resort will have a two-person scramble format and will implement measures to protect the health and safety of golfers and others involved in the competition amid this COVID-19 pandemic.

“So, we’re looking to hopefully sell out, [but due to] safety precautions, we can’t have 144 golfers so we’re having 110 golfers. There will be 55 teams going out there,” he said.

Villanueva added that a lot of things are going to be different this year in terms of safety precautions.

“It’s pretty cool, before, you’d go there and you would do your registration there. But now, were doing everything digital so by the time you get there, you just walk down, have your card ready. We’re making it safe for everybody and this is the first tournament that is going to be happening this year. We’re trying to meet all the COVID 19 safety directives,” he said.

The tournament was originally set for April, but was suspended due to the pandemic. The Chamber then decided to push forward with the tournament this year since it could lighten the spirits of those who have been feeling down because of the pandemic.

“We want to show a little bit of strength and the ability with the right measures. We can definitely host something and still be able to practice it and work with our COVID-19 Task Force to do this. With the right precautionary measures, we found out that it’s safe for us to do that especially considering that we’re in the ‘blue’ right now,” Villanueva said.

The Chamber has been hosting the golf tournament for over 10 years now to raise funds for its scholarship program.