Seasoned golfer Tongo Charamba sunk a birdie on the first playoff hole to beat his rival Ignatius Mketekete and clinch the inaugural Tour Players Championship at the Harare Country Club on Saturday.Charamba and Ignatius Mketekete had both finished the 32 holes in a tie for top position on four-under-par 140.
The duo proceeded to a sudden death play-off which was held on the par-four 18th hole.
Ignatius found the green for three and was waiting to hold on for a par but Charamba who had hit his second shot short of the green proceeded to putt and made a birdie three. The two-time Sunshine Tour winner pocketed $2 000 and became the only local golfer with two wins on Tour this season, having also won the Mashwede Diesel Open in April.
“It’s a nice feeling to be winning again after a frustrating period since my first win in April. I have been playing well since October last year but the results haven’t been coming and I’m happy I managed to pull it off on Saturday,” Charamba told NewsDay Sport yesterday.
Charamba said Saturday’s performance would give him more confidence to do well at the Lowveld Pro-Am scheduled for end of August.
“The win has made me start believing again and obviously is a massive boost ahead of the Low Veld Pro-Am. Everyone wants to do well at the Lowveld as it is one of the major tournaments of the year and hopefully I will continue doing well,” Charamba said.
While Charamba walked away with the lion’s share of the $10 000 prize money, Mketekete settled for $1300 while top US-based amateur golfer Scott Vincent was two shots behind the pros on two-under-par 142.
Borrowdale Brooke based Greg Bentley and Robson Saurombe from Chapman Golf Club finished in a two-way tie for fourth position on one-under-par 43.
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Another promising amateur Golfer Clive Nguru, who has fired an impressive an opening round three-under-par 69 during the opening round to share the lead after 18 holes.
