Tembenuka in a dream nightmare

Tinashe Kusema
WHEN Anyway Tembenuka shot the best score of the Zimbabwe Open pre-qualifying event, the world appeared there for his taking.

When the 33-year old teed off at Royal Harare Golf club on Thursday May 20, he realised a long cherished dream having failed to make the cut on several occasions.

At the end of the first day, Tembenuka was content with his show but it all went off the rails when he signed off the wrong score and was disqualified.

“It is really hard to put into words, to be honest,” said Tembenuka as he reflected on the incident.

“All I can say is that it pains deeply. I put a lot of work into preparing for the Zim Open and when I made the cut I was determined to prove my worth.

“During the qualifiers, I was the best performer, something no one expected from a Zimbabwean, let alone from me but unfortunately I did not get the chance to prove to the world that my pre-qualifier performance was no fluke.”

Attesting a wrong is considered a cardinal sin in golf but Tembenuka has an explanation for it all.  “I was not in the right state of mind on the Thursday,” he said.

“You see, I left my house, in Hatcliff, around 5am in the morning and on my way the commuter omnibus I boarded came across a dead man lying on the road.

“Upon almost hitting the body, the driver decided to stop and check on it and urged all of us to do the same as it might be someone we knew.

“I am not a strong-hearted man and the image of that body lying on the road stuck with me for the remainder of the day. It still haunts me to this day.”

While it did not affect his play that much, Tembenuka said he didn’t feel right all day and it led him into making a couple of miscalculations when submitting his scores.“I scored a bogey on the fifth hole, which I think was scored as a three instead of a four.

“When we got to the office I recorded my score as a 41 instead of a 42, something I remember I needed to verify with the officials when I had already left the office.

‘I did come back and alert them of the possible error, but given that I had already left the office the official had no choice but to disqualify me,’ he said.

Tembenuka holds no grudges and is determined to bounce back in style. “I have a long way to go and have left everything in the hands of God. We concluded the matter amicably with the officials, and l have no ill feelings towards them,” he said.