Online Reporter
Takudzwa Chitsiga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
TOP Zimbabwean professional golfer Kieran Vincent will return to Africa for the first time this season to defend his Sunshine Tour’s KitKat Cash and Carry Pro-Am at Irene Country Club in South Africa this morning.
Vincent will be one of the three local professionals who have entered for this week’s tournament, which has attracted 160 players.
The tournament is the first and second on the Sunshine Tour season after last week’s FBC Zimbabwe Open and carries a handsome purse of R200 000.
Vincent is expected to lead the local contingent and will have countrymen Robson Chinhoi and Stuart Krog in the field.
Vincent won last year’s tournament by going into the final round tied for the lead on 15-under-par with James Mack, and there were 11 other golfers within five shots.
But the 27-year-old gave them no chance as he fired a brilliant, bogey-free six-under-par 66 on the final day to finish on 21-under and clinch a comfortable victory.
Krog will be the first in the field at 7am along with Louis Albertse and Run de Smidt, as Chinhoi will follow in the next group at 7:10am together with Rupert Kaminski and Stephen Ferreira.
Vincent will come on the field at 11:50am along with Ruan Kobba and Luke Jerling, and after coming as an invited guest last year when he won his first Sunshine Tour, he had his mother and sister among the crowd cheering him on.
Speaking after last year’s win, Vincent was full of praise for the Sunshine Tour and all those who supported him.
“It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I’m here on an invite, so I’m super-grateful to KitKat Cash & Carry for this opportunity,” Vincent said then.
“I’m very excited because we did a lot of good things today and a lot of hard work has gone into making this first professional win with my caddie Alec a reality. To have my mother and sister in the crowd was also so special.
“Any time you win, it’s a huge boost, wherever it is. I have a long season ahead, and there’s still a lot of work to do,’’ he said.
