adminBrandon Moyo
Sports Reporter
OVER 100 amateur golfers from Zimbabwe and across the world will take to the greens today when the second biggest golfing tournament in the country, the 2023 Zimbabwe Amateur golf championship tees off at the prestigious Royal Harare Golf Club.
The golf event, which has attracted over 100 players, is a key event on the Zimbabwe Golf Association (ZGA) calendar and promises to be one for the ages with big names in the category set to converge for the top honours in the 72-hole event.
The three-day, 72-hole (some entries registered for 36-holes) competition comes after the biggest event in the land, the FBC Zimbabwe Open which took place in May this year. Golf enthusiasts can expect an intriguing four days of high-quality golf.
“This is the second biggest golf tournament in Zimbabwe after the Zimbabwe Open and the best amateur event as it attracts top players from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia and even China. We have gone out to make it as prestigious as we can and people can expect fireworks. All of our top amateurs will be there,” said ZGA President Martin Chikwana.
Some of the top Zimbabwean players that will be taking part in the flagship event are Innocent Mukumba, Keagan Shutt, David Amm, Michael Wallace, Tariro November, Lloyd Dube, and Panashe Mukumba. On the women’s side there is Primrose Chikwaya, Margret Nyamukondiwa, Jane Salimo, Priscilla Nyatsanga and Yvonne Manase among others.
The sensational Shutt, who hails from Chapman Golf Club is the defending champion having won the two previous events with last year’s taking place at Triangle and Hippo Valley Golf Club.
Like the previous editions, this year’s event also promises to be highly competitive as players such as Amm will be high in confidence after he claimed the Champion of Champions trophy last weekend at Borrowdale Brooke Golf Course.
The Chapman Golf Club member, Amm carded an impressive 11-under-par at the end of the four rounds to claim the top honours in the 36-hole tow day event. The tournament drew all club champions from over 22 golf clubs in the country and this year the tournament was restricted to the championship division only.
Apart from the highly rated Zimbabwean amateurs set to converge at Royal Harare today, some of the international based players lined up for the event include Shijie Li (China), Hanwei Zhang (China), Likius Nande (Namibia), Tawana Mangoma (South Africa) and Bethwell Gumbo (Scotland) among others.
The flagship event will provide the players with the opportunity to get World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points as it is a counting event and also is recognised by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A). The R&A is the world governing body for golf outside of the Americas and their role includes coming up with rules which govern the game.
Entry registration for the tournament closed on Wednesday.
Online Reporter