Hillside Golf Club amateur golfer Robson Chinhoi used his knowledge of the familiar conditions to his advantage as he capped off a brilliant wire-to-wire victory in the Zimbabwe Amateur Championship on his home course on Sunday.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO The Mutare-based golfer, who had carded rounds of 73, 70, 73, started with a six-shot lead and fired a final round one-over-par 74 in difficult scoring conditions to put the seal on a runaway victory.
Chinhoi finished seven shots clear of national junior team captain Jack Allard, who signed for scores of 74, 73, 76 and 74 to sneak into second place on nine-over-par 297 ahead of Bulawayo-based Hanish Nagrani.
Nagrani, who has been in brilliant form since making a return to the local golf circuit from the United States, had looked set to finish second, but carded 80 in the final round to finish with a 12-over-par 300 total.
Rising star Kieran Vincent, who has been enjoying a successful season highlighted by an impressive performance at the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup, had another solid week as he finished in fourth position.
The 17-year-old St John’s College student saved his best golf for the final round and signed off with a 71 after earlier rounds of 79, 74 and 78 for a 12-over-par 300 total to finish two shots ahead of Renco Mine-based Visitor Mapwanya.
Chapman Golf Club junior David Amm held his own against the seasoned amateurs, carding scores of 79, 73, 74 and 82 to finish sixth, seven shots clear of recently crowned Harare amateur champion Doctor Maphosa (77, 80, 81, and 73).
Local amateur golfers will now shift their attention to the Chirorodziva Golf Classic, which will be hosted by the Mashonaland West Golf Union in Chinhoyi from August 14-16.
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The players will then head to Gweru for The Bata Power Open, which will be held at its traditional home, Gweru Golf Club, from August 21 to 23 before the Elephant Hills Open which will be held at Elephant Hills Golf Club from August a week later.
The local tournaments are expected to give local players regular competitive game time ahead of this year’s Africa Amateur Men’s Golf Team Championship to be held at Limuru Country Club in Nairobi, Kenya, from October 15-18.
