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The proposed shift from the traditional month of January looks set for the organising committee’s debriefing meeting with representatives from the Sunshine Tour.
Africom Zim Open committee secretary Mike Mahachi last week hinted at the looming change.
“We cannot ignore the effects the rains had on the recent Zimbabwe Open and with such occurrences normal for January we think it’s a point worth discussing so it will be among some of the talking points next month when we have our debriefing,” he said.

“However, it will not be an easy decision to change the dates.
“January is generally the ideal month for the Open as it comes after a couple of high-profile tourneys in South Africa thereby generating interest from a lot of foreign players,” said Mahachi.  
Four Sunshine Tours and European co-sanctioned tournaments, which attract interest from across the globe as they carry world points, are held in South Africa every December.

The four are the Alfred Dunhill, South African Open, Africa Open and Johannesburg Open.
The Zimbabwe Open also carries equal importance and points, thereby making it an ideal competition for professionals who would have descended on Mzansi.
Despite the rain-induced stoppages, this year’s edition managed to live up to its billing with South Africans once again stealing the show.

Mzansi walked away with eight of the top 10 spots with only Brazil’s Addison da Silva and Englishman Ben Mannix, who finished fourth and sixth respectively, preventing a complete whitewash of the best finishes.
Theunis Spangenberg became the second winner of the rebranded Open after carding a two under-par 70 on the third and final day of competition to finish with a final score of 15 under-par 201.
Spangenberg walked away with a cool R198 125.

Zimbabwean golfers, meanwhile, put up another below-par performance with most pundits pointing to the rains as their Achilles heel.
However, Mahachi is of a different opinion.
“It must be noted that everyone played under the same conditions and I don’t think it’s a fair assessment to point to the skies for Zimbabwe’s below par performance.
“As a country we are making strides, though at a slow pace, and at this juncture I believe our golfers performed as expected, rain or no rain. We had only four golfers making the cut and last year we had five with the difference explained by the absence of Mark Cayeux, who is the best local golfer and would have surely made the cut,” he said.

Mahachi added that the failure by local golfers to fully take advantage of the Sunshine Tour was  another disappointment.
“As an affiliate of the Sunshine Tour we are entitled to 10 slots in the tour. However, we are finding it difficult to fill these slots with a few players hand-picking the tournaments they want to play in.
“It is imperative to note is that experience counts and our golfers won’t gain any if they continue to play in the same competition under the same           conditions as evidenced by the recent Africom Open.
“We need more players taking part in the Sunshine Tour and in as many tournaments as possible.”-The Sunday Mail