Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
AMATEUR golfers, Tariro November as well as Yolanda Mubaiwa were crowned the men’s and women’s winners of the 2023 Munhumutapa Strokeplay Championship which was held at Police Golf Club in Harare over the weekend.
In the men’s section, November finished with a gross total of 229 points from 54 holes whereas his female counterpart, Mubaiwa had a gross of 242 points from the same number of holes.
After a slow start in the first round of the proceedings having had a round score of 79, November bounced back in the two final rounds to cap scores of 74 and 76 to top the standings. In second place, Shepherd Chiwaya was tied with Munashe Ndaruza as they both finished with a gross total of 231 points.
Chiwaya had round scores of 75, 80, and 76 while his counterpart, Ndaruza finished with identical scores of 77 in all three rounds. The tournament that had a total of 104 golfers taking part, 59 in the championship division and 45 in the team event.
For her 242 gross total, Mubaiwa had round scores of 84, 79, and 79 to finish as the best female golfer at the tournament.
She was followed by young Kudzi Mandava who finished with a gross total of 243 points after recording round scores of 82, 79, and 82 while in third place with a gross of 246 points was the winner of the Dugmore trophy, Tracy Humbira who had round scores of 83, 82 and 81 to complete the women’s top three in the second event on the Zimbabwe Golf Association (ZGA) calendar.
The tournament was the inaugural event after it replaced the annual Julius Robinson Trophy which was usually the second tournament on the calendar and carried some World Golf Ranking points. The new championship was launched last week in the capital.
The first event on the ZGA calendar was the Dugmore and Fellowship Challenge which was held at Bulawayo Golf Club last month.
The tournament was graced by the R and A Development Officer for Africa, Eden Thompson who was in the country on his first official visit since assuming the role.
Mawegu Amateur is the next event on the ZGA calendar and is set to take place on Saturday March 18 to Sunday March 19 at Kadoma/Cam and Motor Mine Golf Clubs before Bulawayo Country Club hosts the Matabeleland Amateur on April 1 and 2. – @brandon_malvin
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