Zimbabwe concludes Africa Jacket Golf qualifying tournaments

Zimbabwe held its last of the Windhoek Lager Africa Jacket Golf qualifying tournaments at Roland Park in Zvishavane during the weekend of 2 – 4 May 2014. This was an exciting tournament as there were last minute frantic efforts to get the points for the Windhoek qualifiers.
There was a field of 31 players, mostly because its a new tournament in Zimbabwe’s golfing circuit. In its second year running, and with the publicity of the sponsorship, “..we hope this will translate into more active participation on the tournament,” said Brian Maphosa an Executive of the Zimbabwe Golf Association and the tournament’s liaison person for Zimbabwe.
The winner for the ‘A’ Division was Steven Simukai who shot 76, 71, 69, 77 for a gross total of 293 over the four rounds. In second place was Godfrey Zulu with a gross of 299 and in third place, Doctor Maphosa who shot 302.
In the ‘B’ Division Keenan Breda shot 80, 87, 91, and 79 for 337. Keenan was followed by Aubrey Cummings with 346 and Stephen Chigorimbo in third place with a gross score of 375.
On the standings for the tournament Clive Nguru is still leading, followed by Christian Mbanga and M. Tonderayi still in third place. These will be leading the Zimbabwean team with Keenan likely to be leading the ‘B’ division which has seen some changes in the leading line up of players.

Said Maphosa, “This concludes an exciting series of tournaments in the country of which we can only improve going forward. As for Namibia finals we obviously go for bringing the trophy home.”
The first tournament was the Leopard Rock Open at Leopard Rock. This was followed by the Hwange Open which had the largest field of 122 players. Next in line was the MAWEGU Amateur played in March in Kadoma as well as the Dugmore played in Bulawayo. Leading the pack of golfers at this stage is C.Nguru followed by C. Mbanga and M. Toderayi in third place.
Maphosa said that the circuit achieved one of its goals which was to make the tournament as national in character as possible. “The tournament has been played in such far-stretched places as Hwange, Leopard Rock and Zvishavane. Being the first of such a tournament, there has been a lot of learning. After the tournament in Zvishavane and the finals in Windhoek, we will re-strategise to enhance the profile of the tournament. We also expect much more active participation in the new round of the tournament as more golfers get to know about it.”
Ian Stevenson, Manager: Sponsorships, Events and Brands at Namibia Breweries Limited expressed his delight with the success story in Zimbabwe. “I share the view of Brian that next year will be bigger and better as this tournament is slowly making a name for itself and we are gaining momentum everywhere – it can only go from strength to strength.”