Local golfers brace for busy month
Calistus Kolantsho | Wednesday November 5, 2014 11:19
The tournaments will be held at Phakalane and Selebi-Phikwe golf clubs.
Phakalane golf club will host the annual Orange Botswana Classic championship from November 29-30 while Phikwe club will host the inaugural Air Liquide tournament on November 15.
David Masole is the Orange Botswana Classic defending champion after he won the tournament last year.
As a result he was included in the national team that represented Botswana in the 2013 Windhoek Lager Africa Jacket championships held in Namibia where 130 golfers competed.
Botswana Golf Union (BGU) secretary general, Mpho Kelosiwang was cagey with details of the 2014 edition, requesting to wait for next week’s press conference where details will be revealed. Orange Botswana took over from Naledi Motors as the official sponsor of the BGU Phakalane Classic.
The tournament, which has been running since 2002, is one of the premier events in the country and it is the climax of all the major tournaments under the BGU calendar.
The men’s division will be divided into three categories, namely the championship division, the A Division for players handicapped between eight and 15 as well as B Division for players handicapped between 16 and 24.
The women divisions will be divided into the championship division, which will be made of players with a handicap of one and 10 and the A Division, which will be made of players handicapped between 11 and 30.
Meanwhile, Samson Lungu of Phikwe club said preparations for the tournament are going well. He said Air Liquide is a tournament and men, women and juniors will play it under the normal 18 holes.
He said that he was not in a position to reveal the amount of the sponsorship because they are yet to have a meeting the sponsor.
“We expect around 60 players and we have sent out invitations to all clubs. We are still waiting for responses. This is the last tournament of the year,” said Lungu.
He observed that 2014 has been a good year for Phikwe club because they managed to bring back the Barclays Bank Botswana tournament and hosted all the major tournaments.
The club has also experienced an increase in the number of members who have signed up with it. Lungu noted that despite the increase, they want to have more than 50 playing members. He stated that they would continue encouraging residents of the copper mining town to embrace golf to achieve that.