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Takudzwa Chitsiga

Sports Reporter

IN-FORM Zimbabwean professional golfer Kieran Vincent will be among the country’s hopefuls to end the dominance by the South African golfers when the FBC Zimbabwe Open Golf Championship tees off at Royal Harare this morning.

The four-day tournament has a strong troupe of 159 players taking to the field today and tomorrow before the cut.

The event will run until Sunday.

Vincent, who has been impressive of late in the Asian Tour, is back home and is expected to lead the local golfers as they try to wrestle the crown from the South Africans who have dominated the tournament on Zimbabwean soil for the last 23 years.

Vincent said he was looking forward to the tournament. The 25-year-old will be hoping to make the cut first and then aim to finish strongly.

“I am happy to be back home and spending some time with family and friends. The Zimbabwe Open is the biggest golf tournament in the country and it is an honour to be part of it.

“I have been playing well and I look forward to a good first two rounds and make sure that I make it through the first two rounds.

“The course is playing well and I’m ready for the challenge. I am in a good frame of mind which I believe will help me throughout the week,” said Vincent. The Harare-born professional believes there are chances that a local golfer can manage to win the tournament this year.

With an Asian Tour winner’s medal to his name already this year, the Zimbabwean professional golfer said anything was possible and that it was high time to end the dominance by the South Africans.

“I think we are good to go. The players have been getting game time and I am of the belief that we are capable of having a local player winning it this time around. “We have had some game time and for me coming back home and playing in front of a home crowd motivates me as a player.

“The level playing field is the same and I don’t think there will be any challenges for the players. Most of our players have been playing competitively and they are good to go,” said Vincent.

Vincent will be complemented by in-form Visitor Mapwanya, Robson Chinhoi, Ryan Cairns, Nyasha Muyambo and Shingi Shumba and Tafara Mpofu among several others.

The Zimbabwean amateurs will also be well represented with David Amm, Michael Wallace, Panashe Mukumba, Tanaka Chatora and Brydon Amm among others.

It will be also of interest that the Amm brothers are taking on the same path that the Vincent brothers, Scott and Kieran, took to the tournament as amateurs.

David and Brydon Amm will be in the same field that will also have Katembenuka siblings Mairos, Anywhere and Simon, who have been playing together since their amateur ranks.

Muyambo also used to play alongside his father, Day, and it could have been another father and son affair in the US$150 000 tournament if the older Muyambo was still actively involved in the sport.

Brydon, who is making his second appearance at the high profile tournament, said he was ready and is looking forward to improving from last year’s performance when he failed to make the cut. Brydon made history by becoming the youngest player to make it through the pre-qualifiers as a 15-year-old last year.

The youngster, however, could not last the distance as he missed the cut, something which he said is not likely to happen again this year.

“I think I am ready and we have several amateurs who will join the field. I hope we will see one of us making the cut. Playing at the Zimbabwe Open is a privilege and it will give me exposure going forward.

“The tournament has several top players, some of whom we emulated when growing up. Playing with them now is an honour to me,” said Brydon.

The Zimbabwe Open has since 1986 been won by three Zimbabweans, namely Anderson Rusike, who was an amateur at the time of his victory, Nick Price and Mark McNulty, who was the last local to lift the title in 2000.

Since then, the Open has been won by a South African golfer with Albert Venter the last one to lift the title last year.

The 27-year-old recorded his maiden Sunshine Tour victory after a two-rounds of a sudden-death playoff against compatriots Louis Albertse and Stefan Wears-Taylor.

Venter will be returning to defend the title he won last year. Ryan Cairns was the highest placed Zimbabwean on the leaderboard in a tie for 14th.

This year in-form Jaco Ahlers will lead the South African contingent which also includes former Zim Open winners Venter, Lyle Rowe and Jean Hugo among others.

Seasoned Zimbabwean professional golfer Tongo Charamba is also hopeful that a local player has the potential to take to the podium at this year’s FBC Zim Golf Open Championship.

South African Toto Thimba said he is looking forward to the game and will count on his experience to leave a mark at the tournament.

“Playing on the Sunshine Tour comes with a lot of challenges but also helps one to mature.

“Most of the guys have been playing on the tour competitively and I believe the best player of the coming four days will win it. The course is playing well and I am happy that we have a strong field that can cause an upset any day,” said Thimba.

Organisers of the event are anticipating a bigger edition of the FBC Zimbabwe Open due to the support they have received from various sponsors and partners.

“Our sponsors, our partners, the golfing community thank you for making this possible,” said the Zimbabwe Open Committee chairman, Livingstone Gwata, during the official launch of the tournament this week.

“The pre-qualifier was over-subscribed and we had to turn away some aspirants. What we are thinking of is probably using different facilities in the years to come to accommodate more aspirants, but the number of slots will probably stay the same.

“The 2023 FBC Zimbabwe Open looks like it is going to be a great tournament, the weather is looking good, the golf course is looking great and we would like to thank Royal Harare Golf Club for making the course available,” Gwata said.

The action got underway on Monday with 22 players, who had not automatically qualified for the tournament, booking their place in the main field from the pre-qualifying tournament held at Royal Harare.

The pre-qualifying tournament was followed by the first of the two traditional Pro-Am tournaments at the same venue yesterday, culminating in the big tournament during the last four days of the week, from today to Sunday.