Zim golfers struggle in Japan

By The NewsDay | Jun. 25, 2014 | 2 Min read

ZIMBABWE found the going tough in the opening round of the 2014 Toyota Junior Golf World Cup, finishing bottom of the leaderboard after the first day in Toyota City, Aichi-Prefecture, Japan, yesterday.

The national junior golf team made up of Stuart Krog, Justin Kersten, Kieran Vincent and Mbongeni Maphosa were anchoring the 15-nation leaderboard after a disastrous 11-over par 224.

Krog carded Zimbabwe’s best round after shooting an even par round 71 to sit in a tie for position 31 on the individual leaderboard while Vincent shot five-over par 76 with Maphosa shooting a six-over par 77.

Kersten’s nine-over par 80 didn’t count towards the team’s score as only the best three scores for each team count towards the team total in each round of the 72-hole event.

Chile fired an opening-round nine-under par 204 to take the lead ahead of the United States and defending-champion Venezuela who sit one stroke back at 8-under while hosts Japan were fourth at six under par.

South Africa and Mexico each carded a 208 to claim a tie for fifth, a single shot ahead of Italy (-4).

Australia (-3), Canada (-2) and France (-2) also finished the first round under par.

Zimbabwe qualified for the World Cup after coming second to South Africa in the All Africa Junior Golf Challenge tournament staged at Chainama Golf Club in Lusaka, Zambia last month and are making their first appearance in the prestigious event since 2005. That time, Zimbabwe finished bottom of the standings.

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The best Zimbabwe have achieved in the tournament was a seventh place finish in 1993 and will need a much better perfomance in the last three rounds to do better.

Zimbabwe, who have made eight appearances at the tournament, are also one of only four African nations to have competed in the event in its 22-year history, the others being South Africa (16 times), Kenya (twice) and Morocco (once).