THE Zimbabwe Junior Golf Association (ZJGA) will host a fundraising tournament at Royal Harare Golf Club next Friday to meet operational costs of running the association.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
Themba Sibanda, the ZJGA president, told NewsDay Sport that funds raised would be channelled towards the costs of staging tournaments locally as well as meeting travelling, accommodation and general expenses for the junior golfers on their international tours.
“Due to the tough economic environment, it has been difficult to secure funding to meet the operational costs of running the association, hence the idea to host the fundraising tournament,” he said.
“We agreed that we needed to be proactive to fund our own activities, which is why we came up with this idea to host this golf day. We believe if we are able to raise funds on our own, it would be easier for us to approach potential sponsors to support us on other specific needs when they arise,” he said.
The former rugby administrator, who also has a passion for golf development, encouraged local companies and individuals to support this initiative.
“Companies or individuals’ involvement in the fundraising golf day can be in the form of sponsoring the tournament itself or providing prizes for the day as well as participating,” he said. ZJGA has one of the finest development programmes in the world as evidenced by the number and quality of players who have come through the junior ranks.
Some of the top players who have made their mark in the field of international golf after coming through the development programme include former world number one Nick Price, Tony Johnstone, Mark McNulty, Brendon de Jonge, the late Lewis Chitengwa (Jnr) and most recently Scott Vincent.
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Local juniors have continued to excel in their international outings with the national junior team recently finishing in a respectable 12th position at the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan ahead of established countries such as Brazil, Italy and China.
Meanwhile, budding junior golfer Tafadzwa Nyamukondiwa will captain a six-member Zimbabwe development side to feature in the Four-Nations Golf tournament to be held at Chapman Golf Club from December 12-19.
Other members of the team include Royal Harare Golf Club-based Tadiwa Dzuda, Davison Zulu from Gweru Golf Club, Hwange’s Keith Banda and the Chapman duo of Mthokozisi Masuku and Tinaye Chatambudza.
The tournament, which is reserved for players born in 1999 and after, will feature junior teams from Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and the hosts Zimbabwe.