Tough Olympics start for Vincent

By The NewsDay | Jul. 30, 2021 | 2 Min read

GOLFER Scott Vincent had a difficult start to his maiden Olympics campaign as he tied for 52nd place after carding a 2-over-par score a rain interrupted first at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Japan yesterday.

By Munyaradzi Madzokere

Vincent is one of the five athletes representing Zimbabwe at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

And with swimmers Donata Katai and Peter Wetzlar as well as rower Peter Purcell-Gilpin out of the running for medals, Vincent and sprinter Ngoni Makusha were the remaining medal hopefuls.

Makusha is set to compete in the 100m dash heats tomorrow.

Vincent had a decent start to the competition and was below par by one shot after 12 holes before a 90-minute rain delay.

And the break seemed to have thrown him off his game as he bogeyed three of his last six holes including bogeys on number 17 and 18.

The 29-year-old former Chapman golfer finds himself 10 strokes behind first round leader Austrian Sepp Straka, who closed the day on 8-under-par.

Keep Reading

Thai golfer Jazz Janewattananond was a shot behind, while Belgian Thomas Pieters and Carlos Ortiz from Mexico tied on for third on 6-under-par with 54 holes left in the competition.

Unlike PGA Tour competitions, Olympics golf, which is being held for the second time following its introduction in Rio five years ago, has no cut after the first two rounds.

This means Vincent will have to fight players in all the four days to finish in the medal positions.

He was scheduled to tee off at 09:03 Tokyo time, which is 2:03am Zimbabwean time.

Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation minister Kirsty Coventry, who is also in Tokyo, joined Vincent for the back nine holes alongside Zimbabwe Olympic Committee president Thabani Gonye, chef de mission Fredreck Ndlovu and chief executive officer Stephen Mudawarima.