Zimbabwe drop to third after difficult third round

ZIMBABWE dropped one place down to third position on the team leaderboard after a difficult third round of the 2024 All-Africa Golf Team Championship (AAGTC) at Bulawayo Golf Club.

Zimbabwe went into the third round sitting in second place but dropped after a difficult round yesterday.

Zimbabwe has a team score of 12-over-par-660 and are one shot behind second placed Zambia on 11-over-par-559.

South Africa are comfortably sitting at the top of the leaderboard with a commanding score of 16-under-par-632.

In fourth place is Mauritius on 17-over-par-665 followed by Egypt and Uganda on identical scores of 20-over-668.

Kenya sit in position seven with a score of 32-over-par-680 and are five strokes ahead of eighth-placed Malawi on 37-over-par-685.

In position nine is Eswatini with a score of 61-over-par-709 with Gabon sitting in position 10 on 64-over-par-712.
Botswana anchor the standings on 70-over-par-718.

On the individual leaderboard, team captain Michael Wallace is leading the Zimbabwean contingent after carding one-over-par-73 today.

Wallace is now on level-par-216 after three rounds and is tied for fifth place with Astin Arthur of South Africa.

Playing against the wind in the morning, Wallace managed to birdie the par-four first hole and the par-five fifth hole. He had a double bogey on the par-four second hole and a bogey on the par-four eight hole in the front nine.

In the back nine, the Zimbabwean skipper birdied the par-five 14th hole and the par-four 16th.

He shot bogeys on the par-three 11th and 15th holes.

Keegan Shutt is tied in 11th place with Joseph Cwinyaai of Uganda after carding a round of four-over-par-76 in yesterday’s round three.

Shutt, who holds the course record of 10-under at Leopard Creek is now on an overall score of five-over-par-221.

He shot one birdie and three bogeys on the front nine. He shot the birdie on the par-four ninth hole while shooting bogeys on the par-four second hole, par-three seventh and par-four eight holes.

On the back nine, the Zimbabwean star bogeyed the par-three 15th and par-five 18th holes.

Vincent Chidambazina is in 16th place on the individual leaderboard after carding a third round score of six-over-par-78 which took him to an overall score of eight-over-par-224.

Chidambazina, who shot two-under in the first round, birdied the par-five fourth hole while bogeying the par-three third. He triple bogeyed the four-par seventh hole.

In the back nine, he shot three bogeys on the 11th, 12th and 13th holes.

Kelvin Isaac Muchenje carded a score of seven-over-79 in yesterday’s third round which took him to an overall 15-over-par-231.

In the front nine, Muchenje birdied the first and sixth holes while bogeying the second, third, fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth holes.

He went on to birdie the 14th hole in the back nine while bogeying the 11th and 12th holes. He shot a double bogey on the par-four 14th hole.

Muchenje is tied for position 22 with Krish Shah of Kenya.

Zimbabwe coach Simon Murungweni said the wind in the morning made it a bit difficult to play.

However, he was pleased with the fight his team displayed.

“The round was tough, the day was very tough starting early morning with the winds that we don’t usually experience when playing here in Zimbabwe. All the same the guys put up a good fight but then the course was very tough for everyone. You can see by the average scoring today that it was really tough,” said Murungweni.

South Africa’s Ivan Vester tops the leaderboard with a score of eight-under-par-208 after he shot one-under-par-71 yesterday.

His counterpart, Jordan Burnand had the best round of the day, shooting two-under-par-70 and is sitting in second place with a score of seven-under-par-209, followed by Egypt’s Issa Amr Abou Elela on three-under-par-213.

The fourth and final round of the tournament as well as the closing ceremony are scheduled for today.