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COMEBACK KID . . . Marc Cayeux, who finished third in the Zimbabwe Open golf tournament in 2010 before he was involved in a car accident, will be back this year after he got an exemption on medical grounds

Takudzwa Chitsiga Sports Reporter
ROYAL Harare will come alive tomorrow morning when the 2017 Zimbabwe Open golf tournament pre-qualifiers tee off.

The event will see several professional and amateur golfers trying to make it to the main event which begins on Thursday.

Local professionals, who did not make it through exemption, will battle it out with more than 50 others for the last eight slots.

A number of local professionals, who were not among the 16 automatic Zambezi Tour entries, will also be involved in the pre-qualifier.

With only five amateurs getting automatic entry into the main draw of the Zimbabwe Open, a sizeable number of local amateurs have also registered among the 70 local golfers who will do battle in the pre-qualifier.

At least 137 professional golfers from different tours around the world have entered to play at this year’s Zimbabwe Open.

The golfers will be battling for a piece of the 1,8 million rand winners’ purse.

Since 2001, the event has been dominated by South African golfers as the only Zimbabwean to do well was Marc Cayeux, who finished third in 2010 before he was involved in a car accident.

This year he will be back after he got exempted on medical grounds.

The qualifiers will for the second time be held at Royal Harare as the last five editions were held at Chapman.

The pre-qualifier at Royal Harare will run concurrently with the traditional Pro-Am which will also tee-off tomorrow morning.

The Pro-Am tournament is one of the features of the build-up to the tournament proper as it gives enthusiastic amateur golfers the opportunity of rubbing shoulders with Sunshine Tour pros, mainly from South Africa.