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Takudzwa Chitsiga-Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S premier golf event — the Zimbabwe Open — will be launched at Royal Harare this morning, making a return to the local golf radar after a five-year hiatus.
The event, which was initially scheduled for April 6-10 but was postponed to next Thursday, will be graced by several international players and will run under the Sunshine Tour.
Zimbabwe Open Golf Committee member, Tendai Gwatiringa, confirmed the development as the countdown for the 2022 edition of the flagship event continue.
“We will be launching the Zimbabwe Open golf championship at Royal Harare on Wednesday morning (today) where we will unveil the sponsors,” he said.
FBC Holdings are expected to be the title sponsor of this big event, replacing Delta Beverages who had been at the helm of sponsoring the tournament through their Golden Pilsener brand.
Sunshine Tour chairman, Garry Todd, who arrived in the country yesterday, took time to tour Chapman and Royal Harare to assess the course standards and conditions.
Chapman, which is in a great condition, yesterday played host to the practice round of the Zimbabwe Professional Golfers Association Harare Classic where several professional golfers took part after their annual meeting where they selected a new committee.
The new committee, which replaced the Gary Thompson-led executive, now has some women as the sport is diversifying.
Upcoming administrator Simon Chigorimbo was given the mandate to lead the association as the president and will be deputised by Ryan Cairns. Jessy Nyakatawa is the new secretary-general while Loice Chingono is the treasurer.
The committee members include Pride Sembo, Emmanuel Hungwe and Brian Gondo.
ZPGA managed to put a new executive which will help in engaging corporates who will come on board and sponsor some tournaments. Meanwhile, Chapman is ready to host the Harare Classic which tees off this morning with several top professionals expected to tee off. The tournament is used as a precursor to the Zimbabwe Open and has several sponsors who came on board.
Tournament organiser, Chingono, said there are a lot of corporates who came on board but the door was still open for more sponsors.
“We are happy to be hosting the Harare Classic which has seen a lot of professionals both local and international confirming their availability.
”We have so many corporates who have vowed to work with us and they include Delta Beverages, Nissan Zimbabwe, N Richards, Benz Elect, Choppies, Askland Media and Speedlink Cargo.
“The field is taking shape and we already have the draw for the Pro-Am tournaments which is heavily subscribed. We are happy that we are having some tournaments which is good for us as golfers.
“The future looks bright and we are hopeful that we will continue to receive such tremendous support from the corporate world,” said Chingono.
Visitor Mapwanya, who has been playing in the East Africa’s Safari Tour, is back in the country and had his practice round yesterday.
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