By NDINAWE SIMPELWE –
AFRICA Golf Congress president Joe Malanji says he plans to bridge the gulf between South Africa and the rest of the countries by attaching as many young golfers to academies in South Africa.
Speaking at the prize presentation of the Africa Region 5 golf championship at the Nkana Golf Club in Kitwe on Friday, Malamji said it was clear that South Africa’s performance was miles ahead of the rest of the continent and there was need to find a way of how other countries could benefit from the facilities that the country provided.
He said South Africa put in a lot to develop their golfers and should be commended but the rest of the continent cannot continue to lag behind.
“Most countries that have very few events on their calendar will be encouraged to go to tournaments in South Africa where we are inviting them to be participating. We want to encourage most of the countries to be playing amateur tournaments in South Africa because South Africa has more than 36 events in a year that’s why they have an upper hand on other countries every year,” Malanji said.
He said performance of golfers was not easy because there is a lot that is needed to be put in to achieve the desired results.
“I must tell you that South Africa puts in a lot to come up with this performance that you see. South Africa is not mean, they have a lot of golf academies and from time immemorial have always been open to any country that want to send their juniors for talent identification to these academies,” Malanji said.
Malanji praised the Zambia Golf Union for attaching a number of juniors to South African schools to learn and improve their skills.
He said the programme has yielded a lot of results because in recent international tournaments, Zambia’s position has been either second or third with South Africa the only team to beat.
“The boys have become confident and the next thing will be to upset the tables and break the monotony of South Africa being the perpetualwinners of these events,” he said.
He said AGC would want to see more young golfers being attached to different academies not only to South Africa but other parts of the continent as well such as the R and A and the USA where he was
sourcing scholarships for Zambian golfers.