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Dumi Chitengwa….was in the Harare B team in the Lowveld

Harare Province remains the undisputed golfing powerhouse in the country. Having sent out A and B sides for the revived Filande inter-provincial tournament in Triangle last week (20-21 February) , both teams emerged tops, occupying first and second position ahead of four other teams from three provinces - Manicaland, Matabeleland and Midlands. The Midlands province also fielded two teams.

Harare Province A, which comprised of captain Trynos "Sergio" Muradzikwa, Roger Jack, Nyasha Muyambo, Clive Nguru (Jr), Dale Howie and Greg Bentley were the convincing winners, collecting a whopping 17 points. That put them 7,5 points clear of their colleagues, Harare B who were the runners-up on 9, 5 points. Arthur Mandaza, Dumi Chitengwa, Peter Musimwa, Kembo Kamupira, Collen Matambo and D. Schoultz made up the Harare B team.

Having started out neck-and-neck with their A rivals, Harare B were level with Harare A on eight points halfway through the tournament after the Friday singles match play and Saturday morning doubles match play. However, their game began to falter in the Saturday afternoon Foursomes match play in which they only managed to collect a single point while Harare A managed three points to move two points clear on 11 points.

Things went from bad to worse for Harare B in the Sunday reverse singles where they clashed with Harare A in four of their six matches. Harare B consequently lost all four encounters against their Harare A counterparts who collected a maximum six points from the final day singles to effectively run-away with the title.

Harare team manager, Boniface Chigorimbo was full of praise for his all-conquering players.

"The performance was just outstanding!" gushed Chigorimbo. "From the very start the Harare teams were on top and were neck and neck until the final day when they were drawn against each other in four matches and Harare A won all of them to win it comfortably."

Midlands A took third position, finishing just a point behind Harare B on 8,5 points with Manicaland and Matabeleland tying for fourth position on seven points apiece. Midlands B was last on five points.

The player of the tournament was Clive Nguru (jr) of Harare A who won all his matches in the tournament. Actually, there were three other players that won all their matches - Roger Jack, Trynos Muradzikwa and Nyasha Muyambo - all of whom represented Harare A but they lost out to Nguru's more pronounced 'golf etiquette and youthfulness'.

Reflecting on the competitiveness of the tournament, Chigorimbo insisted that the overall point tallies were not a true reflection of the situation on the ground.

"Then competition was tough, not only when the other provinces were playing against each other but even for the Harare teams." Chigorimbo explained. "A lot of games were halved while several others, including those featuring Harare teams, were decided on the 18th hole."

The weather conditions also gave an advantage to the Harare teams.

Said Chigorimbo, "There was a bit of rain and cool weather which worked to the advantage of the Harare teams. The other provinces are generally used to the bump and run game while the Harare guys know how to alter their game to suit the wet conditions."

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