Bank Windhoek Ladies amateur golf tourney draws near
Bank Windhoek has sponsored the Namibia Amateur Ladies Golf Union (NALGU) with a sponsorship of N$40 0000 to host the Namibian Ladies Open and the African Ladies Championship. Pictured at the handover are f.l.t.r., Berdine Nolte (Representative of Omeya Golf Estate), Thea Groenewald (President of NALGU), Roelien Zwart (Communication Practitioner at Bank Windhoek), Suzette Vermeulen (Additional Member of NALGU), and Celonika Robinson (Secretary of NALGU).
The sponsorship funds will be utilised to host the Bank Windhoek Namibia Amateur Ladies Strokeplay Championships from 25-26 April. The event will be hosted at Omeya Golf Estate. The Championship will be contested over two rounds of 18 holes on each day. Entries have so far been received from Windhoek, Omeya and Swakopmund. This local field will further be strengthened by a contingent of 25 international participants from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Lesotho. The players will arrive in Namibia on 23 April and stay on in Namibia after the Strokeplay Open for the Southern Regional All Africa Challenge Trophy scheduled for 28 – 30 April. Due to sufficient international entries, an Open and Closed Championship can be run this year. All Namibian and international participants will contest the Open Championship, while the Closed Championship is reserved for Namibian players only.
Prizes will be awarded on an overall and divisional basis. All lady golfers in Namibia will be accommodated in different divisions, including junior golfers. Those with handicaps up 24 will play Strokeplay and players with handicaps 25 and above will play Stableford in their own division. This decision was taken in an effort to improve development amongst all lady golfers in the country. From this year a Senior Ladies division has also been included. At the prize-giving the Open, Closed, Stableford and Senior Champions will be crowned. Caro Els (handicap 2) currently Namibia’s top lady golfer, will defend her title. Fierce competition for top honours can be expected from international players such as Swanelle de Lange (+1), Cara Gorlei (0), Demi Flanagan (3) from South Africa and Zimbabwe’s Batsirai Tilowakuti (4).
