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Takudzwa Chitsiga

Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE Golf Association president Martin Chikwana was elected Africa Golf Federation vice-president south, at the just-ended All-Africa Golf Team Championship in Egypt. 

Chikwana, who returned home on Sunday with the Zimbabwean team, said he is happy to have been elected as the vice-president of Africa Golf Federation and is looking forward to his term of office. 

Johnson Umolo from Uganda was elected as the federation’s new president, having served as the vice-president for the past four years. 

“I am very delighted to be appointed to the executive post and it is my hope that I will do well during my term of office. We had a good time in Egypt and the team did well as we recovered from a difficult second round to produce our best team performance of the week in the third round and finished in fifth position. 

“We had the youngest team with our captain Keagan Shutt leading from the front at 16 years. We had outstanding performances and it has helped the young players who need some exposure,” said Chikwana. 

Top junior golfer Shutt was the star of the show after firing a four-under-par-68 at El Gouna Golf Club to move into fourth position on eight-under-par 208, just three shots shy of the lead. Munashe Ndaruza also posted his best round of the week after carding a two-under-par 70 while Tanaka Chatora recovered from a difficult start in the tournament to post a two-over par 74. 

Clive Muchenje returned a non-counting 83 as Zimbabwe returned a four-under-par 212. 

Having dropped to seventh on Wednesday, Zimbabwe returned to fifth position on a three-round aggregate of 18-over-par-666, 47 shots behind winners Morocco. 

Morocco for the first time dislodged South Africa in the biannual event, as they finished 29-under-par-619. South Africa, who have in the past dominated the continental championship look set to lose their grip on the trophy as they sit in second position on a score of 625. 

Kenya finished third position on a three-round aggregate total of five-under-par-643, two shots ahead of fourth-placed Tunisia.

A total of 15 countries are participating in the championship which was launched in 2001. Each team is represented by four players with the best three scores counting towards the team total in each round. 

Chikwana also revealed how the team was affected by food poisoning with team captain Shutt missing the practice round altogether while Ndaruza almost withdrew from the competition ahead of the third round. 

“It’s also important to consider that we had several bouts of food poisoning. Unfortunately, the captain Keegan Shutt fell sick from food poisoning so he didn’t practice at all.