Zimbabwe female golfers dominate Zambia Open Champs

HIGHLY rated Zimbabwean female golfer, Margret Nyamukondiwa once again showed her prowess on the course after winning the 2023 Zambia Ladies Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship that was held at Bonanza Golf Course in Lusaka.

Nyamukondiwa, from Chapman Golf Club lived up to her billing as one of the leading golfers on the continent after she carded a gross total of 224 points from her three rounds to win the prestigious championship.

It was a tournament dominated by Zimbabwean golfers as Kudzai Mandava and Yollander Mubaiwa, both from Royal Harare Golf Club finished in positions two and three with gross total of 230 and 232 respectively, flying the country’s flag high on the international stage. Primrose Chikwaya, also from Royal Harare finished in position five with a gross of 238 points.

On her road to claiming the top honours in Zambia and etching her name in stone, Nyamukondiwa got off her campaign to an unimpressive start as she shot four bogeys on the first round for a score of 76.

However, she was second to Mandava who shot three bogeys for a round score of 75.
In the second round, Nyamukondiwa played her best round of the tournament, shooting level for par on 72 before going on to complete her campaign with another four bogeys after shooting 76, thus having a gross of 224 points, securing a shit shot lead over fellow Zimbabwean, Mandava who had a poor run in the last two rounds.

Mandava shot an unimpressive nine bogeys in the second round with 81 shots before going on to shoot two bogeys in the third and final round with 74 shots for her gross of 230 points. In third place, Mubaiwa shot seven bogeys in both her first two rounds with 79 shots before making two bogeys in the third round with 74 shots for her 232 points.

Separating the four Zimbabweans who managed to make it to the top five was Zambian, Kaela Mulenga who was five shots behind Mubaiwa with a gross total of 237 points and was just one shot ahead of Chikwaya who finished on 238. The Zimbabwean, Chikwaya had round scores of 85, 77 and 76 in her three rounds while ahead of her and in fourth place, Mulenga had scores of 77, 77 and 83.

Players from seven countries across the continent took part in the championship. The seven nations were the hosts, Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean female golfers have been playing well in recent months with some of their notable achievements coming during the All-Africa Junior Team Championships where they finished second, behind South Africa. The tournament took place in April in Uganda.

Zimbabwe Ladies Golf Union President, Margeret Vera, was ecstatic with the performance that the Zimbabwean players put out in Zambia, stating that the fruits of the hard work that has been put over the past months are starting to show.

“We are extremely proud of the ladies. We are so happy that this is happening now, a lot of work has been put in and good results are beginning to show. We have become prominent and we wish that more people could support us,” said Vera.

In the second week of July, Zimbabwe is set to host the GNP Challenge which is a triangular championship alongside Kenya and Zambia and Zimbabwe will be looking at retaining the championship. Nyamukondiwa, Mandava and Mubaiwa are expected to make the Zimbabwean team for the championship.
— @brandon_malvin