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Kent Ziehl………Star in the making?

Young gun, Kent Ziehl, clinched a maiden Zimbabwe Junior Golfers Association (ZJGA) tournament victory when he won the Future Masters Junior tournament at Borrowdale Brooke on Thursday (7 January 2010). Ziehl, who was part of the title-winning Zimbabwe junior team at last month's Tri-Nations Championship, raced into the lead with a superb first round 3-under-par 69 in the morning to lead by a single shot from Kayyan Mandhu who was the only other golfer to break par in the opening round.

However, the afternoon rain, which stopped play for almost half an hour, disrupted the flow of play with Ziehl being one of the most affected - the golfer closing on 3-over-par 75 after struggling in the final holes. That left Ziehl on level-par 144 for the tournament but with the chasing pack also failing to capitalize, the lanky golfer prevailed by three-shots.

M. Ncube who had opened with a 3-over 75 score emerged as the runner-up after a late charge in which he posted a level-par 72 to finish level with Mandhu (70, 77) and Ray Straker champion, Clive Nguru (Jr) (75, 72) on 3-over 147. Ncube was counted in as the runner-up in the ensuing count out. Sixth place went to Ray Badenhosrt who had rounds of 74 and 75 for a 5-over 149 total. S. Greenwood (74, 76) and Grant Hudson (72, 78) tied for 7th position on 6-over 150. Positions 9 and 10 went to V. Bhunu and T. Smith respectively. Bhunu had rounds of 79 and 73 for an 8-over 152 total while Smith was a shot back following rounds of 74 and 79.

In the 'B' Division for the higher handicap golfers, Fortune Mawuru was the winner on 180 after rounds of 94 and 86. B. Mutembwa (102, 82) was the runner-up on 184 with E. Silver taking third place on 185 following rounds of 92 and 93. P. Chinawa (92, 95) was fourth on 187 with Isaac Chikarara (91, 97) fifth on 188.

In the girls section, rising star, Batsirai Tilowakuti was the overall winner on a score of 165 after rounds of 80 and 85.

Meanwhile, Borrowdale Brooke Golf and Country Club, through its proprietor John Breedenkamp, donated 150 set of golf clubs to the Zimbabwe Golfers Association (ZGA) for use in the local golf development programmes. Speaking on behalf of Borrowdale Brooke, the club chairman, Dave Sly pledged his club's continued support for local golf and noted the priceless nature of such a donation.

"Through this donation, we seek to make golf more pleasurable for our young golfers and we will continue to do all we can to support junior golf," said Sly. "One good set of golf clubs can help one of these young golfers achieve his dream."

In their acceptance speech, the ZGA acknowledged the efforts of Borrowdale Brooke Golf and Country Club and revealed that a national golf development programme was well underway.

"These golf kits will add to the 110 full golf sets raised by the ZGA for golf development in the country. The programme is already in full swing with a number of professional golfers also set to be deployed to various provinces to boost local golf development."

Following the conclusion of the Future Masters tournament, the local junior golf circuit takes a break with competitive action resuming during the in April national school holidays.

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