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Winner’s kiss……..Hennie Otto gets a congratulatory kiss. Picture source : Sunshine Tour

ZIMBABWEAN golfers had yet another disappointing showing in the latest Sunshine Tour event, the Vodacom Championship, that came to a conclusion on Sunday (28 February) with all but one of the local golfers failing to make the cut. The tournament was played at Pretoria Country Club. With only one more event to go before the hugely anticipated Africom Zimbabwe Open takes place, Zimbabwean golfers have only one more big event to fine tune for their homecoming tournament when they take part in the Vodacom Business Origins of Golf Tour event at Gardener Ross Golf and Country Estate form 14-16 April 2010.

Indeed, it was a largely forgettable outing for Zimbabwe's representatives on the Sunshine Tour as they once again failed to make their presence felt at the tournament which was, as is the norm, dominated by South Africans. Only Sean Farrell, who finished a distant 58th on level-par 288 made the cut for Zimbabwe with the rest - Marc Cayeux, Tongo Charamba, Mike Curtis and Ryan Cairns all missing the cut. Farrell, who had rounds of 69, 73, 75 and 71, was tied for 58th position with South Africa's Irvin Mazibuko.

Cayeux, who shot scores of 71 and 73 missed the cut by one shot, was tied for 77th position with 13 other golfers. Cairns, who was a further shot back on 1-over-par 145 after rounds of 74 and 71 was in 91st position along with 11 other golfers while Mike Curtis (72, 76) and Tongo Charamba (76, 72) tied with five others in 114th position on 4-over 148. Another Zimbabwean, Ignatius Mketekete, who had started off with a 74, was one of four players to retire after the first round, the others being Titch Moore, Dismas Indiza and Teboho Sefatsa. Infact, Golfzone understands that Ignatious Mketekete and Philip Tshuma were involved in an accident forcing the pair not to take any further action in the tournament.

The tournament was won by history-making Hennie Otto who shot a cracking 28-under-par 260 score for a nine-stroke victory. Otto had scores of 65, 61, 67 and 67 with his second round 11-under-par 61 becoming a new Pretoria Country Club course record. His 28-under-par total was also just one shot off the Sunshine Tour record of 29-under-par set by Zimbabwe's Mark McNulty in Swaziland in 1987. Only one other man has equalled McNulty's all-time record - David Frost in the 1994 SA PGA Championship. For his efforts, Otto won the R420, 000 first price.

Second place went to Jbe' Kruger who had rounds of 65, 66, 66 and 72 for a 19-under-par 269 total and the R300, 000 cheque. Brazilian Adilson Da Silva and South African Thomas Aiken shared third position on 18-under-par 270. Da Silva had rounds of 69, 66, 69 and 66 while Aiken shot 65, 66, 70 and 69. Both golfers collected just over R156, 000 each. Michiel Bothma, on 17-under 271 was placed fifth following rounds of 66, 70, 69 and 66. He collected R109, 000 in prize money.

With only one more event to go before the hugely anticipated Africom Zimbabwe Open takes place, Zimbabwean golfers have only one more big event to fine tune for their homecoming tournament when they take part in the Vodacom Business Origins of Golf Tour event at Gardener Ross Golf and Country Estate form 14-16 April 2010. The tournament, which comes up after a month-long break, has already attracted 116 entries - including six Zimbabweans - Cayeux, Charamba, Farrell, Julius Kamalizeni and Anyway Katembenuka.

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