The Sunday Mail
Ralston Muchoko
GOLFER Ryan Cairns warns that locals will continue playing second fiddle to their South African counterparts if the Zimbabwe Golf Association does not introduce more local tournaments.
Cairns, who was Zimbabwe’s best performer at the 2018 Zimbabwe Golf Open after finishing tied on 32, believes more tournaments will improve the standard of local golfers.
South African Bryce Easton won the Zim Open and Cairns warns the trend of foreigners dominating local golf’s premier event will continue if something does not change.
“It hurts that the South Africans keep dominating this tournament, but I try look at things more as a glass-half-full. We cannot be negative about the situation because that will not help anyone,” said Cairns.
“The Zimbabwe Open was very difficult for us locals.
The landscape has not changed at all because the guys who have always dominated continued with their dominance.
Clearly something needs to be done urgently.
“We need more local golf tournaments so that we get to play more, get more confidence and perfect the skill need to compete at these big tournaments.”
Zimbabwe Golf Association president Mufaro Chiwoniwoni agreed with Cairns’ assertion and revealed that plans are afoot to give local golfers more competitive action.
“As the Zimbabwe Golf Association we have also noted that there is an urgent need for more tournaments and we are working closely with the Zimbabwe Golf Professionals and our sponsors to address the matter,” he said.
“We are content with how our Zimbabwean golfers performed at the just ended open but also appreciate that there are some deficiencies that need to be addressed if they are to compete effectively at such a level.
“We owe it to our golfers to organise more tournaments and a comprehensive plan on how we will do this as well as push forward with our developmental programmes will be made public in due course.”
