HARARE - A number of local fledgling golf stars are expected to illuminate a series of junior golf tournaments that kicked off in Bulawayo on Monday.
The juniors are set to play four 36-hole tournaments over four days with the first tournament being the Nomads Under-23 at the Bulawayo Country Club.
The Nomads tournament will be followed by the Stanchem tournament at Harry Allen Golf Course.
Today, the juniors move to Bulawayo Golf Club for the Loxton Trophy. The last tournament will be the Matland Champs at the Country Club.
Among the promising players that will take to the greens include Justin Kersten, Mbongeni Maphosa and Kiren Vincent with serious challenges expected from such players as Mayford Sibanda, David Amm.
Amm comes into the series of tournament with his confidence on the rise after becoming the youngest Zimbabwean to play in the Zimbabwe Open that finished on Sunday.
Among the girls to watch out for are the young competitive pair of Margaret Nyamukondiwa and Danielle Bekker.
Nyamukondiwa and Bekker have been playing very competitive golf this year and are currently competing for a possible slot in the British Junior tournament set for July.
This year’s tournaments are without last year’s winners with Stuart Krog, who won the Nomads and Luxton tournaments currently in South Africa at the Zone VI tournament.
Krog is representing Zimbabwe at the Devonvale Golf and Wine Estate in Cape Town.
Jack Allard, who won the Matland Open at the same time, is also part of the Zone VI team that left the country on Sunday.
Kiren Vincent was last year’s winner of the Cotton Waste sponsored tournament that is not being played this year.
Paul Kersten, the President for Matebeleland Junior Golf Association, is happy with the expected turn out for the tournaments.
“We have 73 confirmed entries so far and I still expect some juniors at registration,” said Kersten
The tournaments contribute to the juniors’ national order of merit from which the likes of Scot Vincent, Brandon De Jonge, and other Zimbabwe’s great golfers are a product of.