By FELIX MALUNGA –
THREE vehicles will be up for grabs at the 2014 Zambia Sugar Open Golf Championship next month at Lusaka Golf Club.
Apart from fighting for the R1.2 million (about K780,000) prize money, the golfers, who will be accurate enough to sink holes-in-one on three short holes on the course, are assured of driving back to the Lusaka club house.
A set of Goodyear tyres will be placed on the par five hole number 18 for any player who will sink an eagle.
The three vehicles will be placed on number nine, 11 and 16 with the sponsors being Jaguar, Yeti Motors and Southern Cross Motors.
Over 50 companies have so far partnered with the Zambia Sugar Open Organising Committee (ZSOOC) to ensure that the financial requirements and other logistics are in place for the tournament.
With the d-day nearing, the Zambia Sugar Open, which will be preceded by two Pro-Ams – Airtel and Zambia Sugar on June 3 and 4, respectively, has been over-subscribed by 44 players.
So far 158 players on the Sunshine Tour, who include dethroned Zambia Open champion, Adilson Da Silva, have signed up for the tournament proper which runs between June 5-8.
Foreign entries have been allocated 114 places while an additional 30 made up of professionals, amateurs and five special invited players will be selected by Zambia.
Tournament authorities, Sunshine Tour will use qualifying rounds to determine the final 114 players coming from the rest of the world.
Entries so far are from South Africa, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Botswana, Zimbabwe, England, India, Sweden and Germany and of course Zambia.
ZSOOC chairperson, Robert Penney, said he was happy with the response from sponsors despite the fact that they only had eight weeks to put the tournament together.
“It is satisfying to see so many new sponsors come on board. Last year we had 16 direct cash sponsors and that figure has gone up to 28 as of today with 23 ‘in kind’ sponsors making a total of 51 partners,” Penney said in a statement released yesterday.
The Zambia Sugar Open has become the newest tournament on the Sunshine Tour and will carry a prize purse of R1.2 million.
Zambia Sugar Plc has committed $ 450,000 in direct prize money and a further $ 300,000 in branding and logistics over a period of three years up to 2016.
The Zambian professionals will be led by Dayne Moore, who was the best performer at the just-ended Mopani Copper Mines Zambia Open in Kitwe, and Madalitso Muthiya.
ZSOOC sponsorship direcor, Rodwell Chawatama said the tournament would be preceded by the Airtel Pro-Am on Tuesday June 3 followed by the Zambia Sugar Pro-Am on Wednesday June 4.
ZSOOC communications and media director, Nsama Mataka said ” We are excited to have the highlights to be televised on ZNBC (Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation) during each day of the championship.”
Among the latest sponsors are Kansai Plascon, Innscor, Samsung, Hazida, Olam, China Africa Cotton, Goodyear, Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic Bank, All terrain Services (ATS).
