By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –

ZAMBIA this morning starts the impossible quest of trying to wrestle the title from South Africa when the 2015 All-Africa Junior Golf Challenge tees off at the Lusaka Golf Club.
Ten countries will be taking part in this tournament that has always seen South Africa winning Africa’s premium junior golf title.
While this task realistically remains out of reach for Zambia this time around with South Africa still standing as distant favourites, the Patrick Mwendapole senior coached side will be hoping for a first ever second place finish.
South Africa has always won this title, while the second place finish has been dominated by Zimbabwe with Zambia after many years of fighting, managed a third place finish in Mauritius, which today remains the highest position ever for the team.
Last year, Zambia hosted the premium junior golf event with hope on getting a better finish but again ended up in third position.
Zambia Junior Golf Association (AJGA) director Aloysius Phiri, however, remains confident Zambia can move a step higher from the third place attained in the last two years.
“Last year, we played well but unfortunately, we finished third for the second year running. This year we have a strong team and I am pretty confident we can improve on last year’s position. I still carry a hope we can win it this year,” he said.
Whereas the third place finish last year came as a disappointment to some, statisticians gave praises to Zambia for first-not going backwards and finishing fourth or worse and also that the gap between Zambia and the two countries that finished ahead of them had reduced.
Even Africa Golf Confederation (AGF) president Joel Malanji stated that golf on the continent was on the upswing as many countries were getting close to the hugely dominant South Africa.
South Africa for the umpteenth time won the title with Zimbabwe also coming out second, as it was in 2013.
In the Zambian team and hoping to rise the bar is South Africa based Tristan Brice, who is captain and was the youngest member of the Zambian team in the 2013 outing to Mauritius.
Also in the team is the hugely talented and raw Gabriel Chibale, who Madalitso Muthiya touts as a big star in the making, as well as Kelvin Chibuye both from Ndola Golf Club and Patrick Mwendapole junior.