ZIMBABWE’S leading junior golfers will be out to end South Africa’s dominance of the All-Africa Junior Golf Championship in Zambia next week.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO SPORTS REPORTER
The 19th edition of the All-Africa Junior Championship tees off on Monday and runs until next Thursday at Chainama Hills Golf Club in Lusaka.
Other countries expected to compete in the prestigious junior team championship include the host nation, Ghana, Kenya, Swaziland, Uganda, Namibia and Mauritius.
Regional powerhouses South Africa are the most successful nation in the history of the tournament winning 15-title is the competition’s 19-year history However, having played second fiddle to South Africa in the past, Zimbabwe, who boast a stronger squad this year has good chance to upstage their more fancied rivals.
The Zimbabwe junior team which leaves for Zambia on Saturday evening will be led by junior sensation Stuart Krog, who is currently the top-ranked junior golfer on the Zimbabwe Golf Association’s junior rankings.
Bulawayo Golf Club junior Jack Allard, Justin Kersten and Kieran Vincent, the young brother to United States-based top amateur golfer Scott Vincent is also part of the team.
Vincent, Kersten and Allard are respectively ranked second to fourth while non-travelling reserve Mbongeni Maphosa is ranked fifth.
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The current crop of players will head to Zambia with high hopes of going one better than their silver medal standing achieved last year at Le Touessrok Golf Course in Port Louis, Mauritius.
In an interview with NewsDay Sport, Zimbabwe Junior Golf Association president Brian Maphosa backed the young team to rise to the occasion and upstage the South Africans.
“Obviously, South Africa has always dominated the All-Africa Junior Golf Championship, but this is a different year and we are confident that dominance will come to an end.
“The squad we are sending to Zambia is the strongest team we have and we believe they have had the best possible preparation for this tournament.”
While Krog and Allard fine-tuned their preparations at the Zone VI Golf Tournament in Cape Town, Kersten and Vincent took part in the 2014 April School Holidays programme which took place in Bulawayo last week.
