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Zimbabwe lady golfers tee off

Sport
AFTER the national junior team’s second-place finish at the Africa Junior Golf Championship on home soil last week, the Zimbabwe Ladies’ Golf Union (ZLGU) shifts its focus to the national senior side, which will take part in the Regional All-Africa Challenge Trophy in Lesotho this week.

AFTER the national junior team’s second-place finish at the Africa Junior Golf Championship on home soil last week, the Zimbabwe Ladies’ Golf Union (ZLGU) shifts its focus to the national senior side, which will take part in the Regional All-Africa Challenge Trophy in Lesotho this week.

BY DANIEL NHAKANISO

Danielle Bekker
Danielle Bekker

The Regional All-Africa Challenge Trophy, which runs until Friday, tees off today at Maseru Golf Club, with Zimbabwe joining hosts Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana and Namibia.

The biannual competition, which is widely considered the most prestigious amateur ladies’ golf tournament on the continent, will be followed by the Lesotho Ladies’ Open, which has been scheduled for Saturday.

A four-member Zimbabwe team, which includes top junior players Danielle Bekker and Emily Jones, as well as seasoned female golfers Batsirai Tilowakuti and Yollander Mubaiwa, left the country on Monday for this year’s edition of the prestigious tournament on the continent.

Bekker and Jones were part of the junior team which finished second behind eventual champions South Africa in the All-Africa Junior Championship which was played at Royal Harare Golf Club last week.

Zimbabwe, who are accompanied by national coach Cathy Riley in Lesotho, will also bank on the experience of Tilowakuti and Mubaiwa, who have both featured in previous editions of the Regional All-Africa Challenge Trophy.

Caroline Mtsambiwa, the ZLGU president, said she was confident that the senior team would carry on from the junior golf team’s good performance last week.

“Last week, our junior girls’ team played their best golf and came second in the All-Africa Junior Championship behind South Africa. Obviously we were very happy with the fighting spirit the girls showed and we hope they will carry on that good form to the All-Africa Junior Championship,” she said.

“We believe the exposure they are getting by playing regular tournaments will strengthen ladies’ golf even more and we are proud that our Zimbabwe flag keeps flying high.”

South Africa have dominated the regional competition, claiming five titles since the inaugural event in Botswana in 2007.

Zimbabwe finished second at the previous edition of the Regional All-Africa Challenge Trophy played in Windhoek two years ago before going on to claim fourth position out of 16 nations in the continental All-Africa Challenge Trophy held in Tunisia last year.

Regional All-Africa Challenge Trophy events are held biennially in West Africa, Southern Africa, North Africa and East/Central Africa and are financially supported by the Royal and Ancient of St Andrews (R&A).

The events play an important role in preparing Africa’s finest female amateur golfers for the All-African Challenge Trophy.