VETERAN golf coach Roger Baylis believes the four-member national junior team selected by the Zimbabwe Junior Golf Association (ZJGA) will make a mark at the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Nagoya, Japan, later this month.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
The 24th edition of the prestigious 72-hole tournament will be played at Chukyo Golf Club from June 14-17 with 15 national teams – including winners of regional qualifiers held across six continents – competing for the world title.
Zimbabwe’s top-ranked junior Kieran Vincent, younger brother of United States-based professional Scott Vincent, will spearhead the local challenge after yet another superb season on the local and international circuits.
The other players in the star-studded Zimbabwe lineup include David Amm, who has also been in dominant form on the local circuit, and the Bulawayo-based pair of Justin Kersten and Bekithemba Ndlovu.
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Baylis, the long-serving Chapman Golf Club teaching professional, will travel with the team together with team manager Simon Murungweni and ZJGA president Themba Sibanda, who will be the head of delegation.
Baylis has coached enough national junior golf teams in the past to know when he has a group with potential and he believes this year’s team is well poised to put on a good show against the world’s best junior players.
“I’m pretty confident this team will do well,” Baylis told NewsDay Sport in an interview yesterday ahead of the team’s departure for Japan next week.
“We have a very strong group of players who have experience at this level and we will definitely be aiming to do well against some very good teams from around the world. The other good thing is I’ve spent enough time with the players to prepare with the exception of Justin (Kersten), who is at boarding school,” Baylis said.
Zimbabwe qualified for their third successive Toyota Junior Golf World Cup after finishing second behind South Africa at the 2016 All-Africa Junior Golf Challenge held three months ago in Tunisia to claim one of the two World Cup tickets on offer.
The national junior side will be eager to improve on their performance at last year’s global tournament, where they finished in 12th position ahead of Italy, Brazil and China.
Defending champions Japan lead the strong field of 15 countries for the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup which includes Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, the United States and Zimbabwe.
The 72-hole tournament follows a four-players-count-three scores format and the team with the lowest total score at the end of the four rounds will be crowned champions.