Zimpapers Logo

Takudzwa Chitsiga-Sports Reporter 

SEVERAL local professional golfers are not taking a break after competing at the just-ended FBC Zimbabwe Open Golf Championship as they left the country yesterday for the annual Professional Golf Association (PGA) Malawi Championship FDH Bank tournament that begins on Thursday at Lilongwe Golf Club. 

Zimbabwean golfers Visitor Mapwanya, Nyasha Muyambo, Simon Katembenuka, Tongoona Charamba and Robson Saurombe have all registered for the tournament, which is run by the Professional Golfers Association of Malawi. 

Mapwanya, who is seeing more of his game-time in the East and West African tours, confirmed he will be part of the K5 million purse tournament to be held in Lilongwe. 

“I am not taking a rest as I will be leaving for Malawi tomorrow (yesterday) for a tournament to be held in Lilongwe. It is a small tournament but I am going there to support and honour the chance Malawi has given me. 

“I hope I will do well. I have played there before and I hope the conditions remain the same,” said Mapwanya. 

The top professional was part of the 12 local players who made the cut at the FBC Zimbabwe Open Championship where he finished tied 60th together with countryman Benjamin Follet-Smith and Mahammad Rauf Mandhu, who all pocketed R9 200.

Mapwanya finished the four rounds on 14-over-302. 

Ryan Cairns, who was the best-placed Zimbabwean at the FBC Zimbabwe Open Golf Championship, will now shift his attention to South Africa where he is targeting several tournaments. 

The Royal Harare-based professional finished the tournament on two-under-par after rounds of 71, 70, 76 and 69 to pocket R28 100. 

“I will take a small break to focus on par-three course but I will take part in some tournaments in South Africa before the end of the year. FBC Zimbabwe Open Golf Championship went on well and I thank the Open Committee and Sunshine Tour for organising the tournament. 

“We tried our best and we managed to have several players making the cut, including juniors, which is a good reflection,” said Cairns. 

Keegan Shutt of Chapman was the best-placed amateur and wore his green jacket in his first attempt on the big stage. 

The 15-year-old was happy to learn from professionals as he prepares for the Zimbabwe Junior Championships to be held at Borrowdale Brooke this weekend. 

“I am happy to have managed to play all the four rounds as they gave me an opportunity to learn. It was my first time to play in the Zimbabwe Open and I had nerves at the beginning but my confidence kept on improving with each passing game. I am happy for the support I got from my parents and everyone else who was behind me,” said Shutt. 

Julius Kamalizeni, who had the only hole-in-one at Chapman during the second round, said he had the feeling that it was going in, the moment he hit his tee shot, and was happy for his second career achievement. 

The Wingate Park Golf Club-based professional shot a hole in one with a six-iron at the 171-metre par-three second hole. 

It was a second career hole-in-one for Kamalizeni, who scored his first ace during the first round of the Eisenhower Trophy at Stellenbosch Golf Club in October 2006 in South Africa, playing alongside future world number one Rory McIlroy, who was representing Northern Ireland. 

“I’m happy that I scored my second hole-in-one in such a big event such as the FBC Zimbabwe Open. I was feeling good, I had made par on the first hole and all of a sudden I made the hole-in-one. It brought me back in the tournament but it also got to my head,” Kamalizeni said. 

The FBC Zimbabwe Open Championship was won by South African golfer Albert Venter. 

An excellent day with the putter saw Venter to a superb final-round 66 and a playoff for the FBC Zimbabwe Open at Royal Harare Golf Club on Sunday, with the 26-year-old then sinking a 16-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to claim his maiden Sunshine Tour title. 

Venter had to hold off Stefan Wears-Taylor, who also shot 66 in the final round, and Louis Albertse (67) in the playoff after the trio all finished the tournament on 10-under-par.

They all parred the 18th in the first playoff hole, but on their next attempt, Venter spun a sand-wedge from the fairway back to 16 feet from the pin and then nailed the birdie putt, with Albertse and Wears-Taylor unable to make their shorter putts.

LEADING FINAL-ROUND SCORES

* won in playoff

-10 – *Albert Venter

-10 – Stefan Wears-Taylor, Louis Albertse

-8 – Dan Erickson, Louis de Jager, Jaco Ahlers

-6 – Luca Filippi

-5 – Madalitso Muthiya

-4 – Hennie O’Kennedy, Neil Schietekat, Wynand Dingle

-3 – Dylan Naidoo, Ryan Van Velzen

-2 – Ryan Cairns, Ricky Hendler

-1 – Herman Loubser, Keagan Thomas, Nikhil Rama

Par – Hayden Griffiths, Therion Nel, Kyle Barker, Slade Pickering, JJ Senekal

+1 – Lyle Rowe, Deon Germishuys

+2 – Erhard Lambrechts, Michael Kok, Joe Long, Clancy Waugh, Stephen Ferreira, Michael Palmer, Rupert Kaminski, Martin Vorster

+3 – Jacques P de Villiers, MJ Viljoen, Jean Hugo

+4 – Luke Jerling

+5 – Shaahid Mahmed, Sydney Wemba, Keegan Shutt

+6 – Byron Coetzee, Teaghan Gauche, Jacques Blaauw, Dylan Mostert, Martin Rohwer, Jack Allard, Nyasha Muyambo

+7 – Merrick Bremner, Robson Chinhoi

+8 – Jared Harvey

+9 – Kyle McClatchie

+10 – Stuart Krog

+11 – Brian Gondo, Combrinck Smit

+12 – Michael Wallace, Callum Mowat, Simon Katembenuka, Jovan Rebula, Rhys West

+14 – Visitor Mapwanya, Benjamin Follett-Smith, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu

+15 – James Mack

+19 – Celestin Nsanzuwer

+20 – Thorne Juan Van Zyl

+26 – Tafara Mpofu