• KAELA Mulenga poses with her trophy after winning the ladies category of the MTN Zambia Golf Challenge Tournament held at the Lusaka Golf Club. Looking on is MTN Zambia head of Business Enterprise Unit (EBU) Mark Townsend (left) and Lusaka Golf Club vice-captain Yusuf Patel (Middle). Picture courtesy of MTN Zambia.
By ELIAS CHIPEPO –
RYAN Abel put up a dominant performance on Friday to win the first leg of the MTN Corporate Golf Challenge to edge closer to winning an all-expense paid for trip to the United States of America (USA) to watch the 2015 US Open Golf Championship.
Abel goes into the second leg of the challenge to be hosted at the Kitwe Golf Club on October 31, needing another win that will see him, or, indeed the overall winner of the two legs winning the top prize to the USA to watch the US Open which is part of the prestigious PGA tour.
Playing in the C Division, Abel finished tops on 44 points to walk away with a new Sony Xperia cellular phone and a trophy and in second place was Charles Marshall who amassed 40 points.
Honours in the B Division went to Lackson Mwiya from Zambia Air Force (ZAF) who picked up 39 points to walk away a Sony Xperia cellular phone while in second place was Shiggy Patel but was tied on 39 points with Mofya Chisala.
Patel won himself a DStv Explora decoder while Chisala got a Nokia Lumia phone.
Elvis Shimushi bagged the A Division finishing on 38 points and was followed by Heni Melwani also on 38 points while Kennedy Imbuwa was third 37 points.
The ladies category saw Kaela Mulenga emerging as the best player on 37 points followed by Sara Mukosa and Kwalombota Kekelwa on 35 and 34 points respectively.
The winners for each division earned a place in the second leg for free instead of paying the K1,000 entry fee.
Kaela also won the longest drive for ladies while the nearest to the pins was scooped Olivia Phiri while Bob Keating won the men’s longest drive as George Mulenga got the nearest to the pin.
Meanwhile, MTN Zambia head of business enterprise unit Mark Townsend described the event, which the mobile service provider has been hosting for past seven years, as a success.
“I say it was successful day because we managed to achieve our objective which is mainly to raise funds for the renovation of the Lusaka Golf Club as well as create a platform for interaction and networking. Let me also state that the proceeds will be donated to a charity to be communicated at the end of the challenge,” he said.
Townsend said this year’s prize is meant to inspire Zambian golfers to aim for the highest laurels in the sport.
“Zambia is fast becoming a popular golf destination of choice as our golf courses over the years are being upgraded to international standards. The next stage is to groom a number a local golfers to play at the highest level. This can only be attained with continued investment in the sport and exposing our players to the world’s best facilities and biggest platforms,” he said.
