.Muthiya

By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –

ZAMBIA’s star golfer, Madalitso Muthiya yesterday tied for 11th at the Nedbank Affinity Cup after firing an awesome eight-under-par 208 over three rounds at the Lost City Golf Course in South Africa.
In this R750,000-rich (about K450,000) tournament, Muthiya ended his campaign four shots behind three joint leaders, South Africans Danie van Tonder, Louis de Jager and Vaughn Groenewald.
However, in the sudden-death play-off, De Jager made back-to-back birdies at the 18th to beat Groenewald and Van Tonder for the Nedbank Affinity Cup.
De Jager pocketed R118,875 (about K71,325) while Groenewald and Van Tonder each received R69,900 (about K41,940).
For his effort, Muthiya earned R13,446.50 (about K8,067) and will now be looking forward to future tournaments on the Sunshine Tour with renewed vigor.
Muthiya who started the final round in 27th position on three-under, rose on the leader board after a strong start which was epitomised with an eagle on the par-five fourth hole before he added five more birdies on the next seven holes.
That impressive run took him to an overall 10-under-par and was just one stroke off the top but a double bogey on the 13th took some gloss off his charge and eventually cooled off in his approach and played pars on the remaining holes.
The double bogey, which was the only blemish of his last round, could have dented his run but it could not take the shine off his performance at the Lost City Golf Course which put him in good a position as the last tournament played last week.
At the last Samsung Origins of Golf Final held last week, Muthiya finished with a nine-under-par 207 and gave him automatic entry into the main draw of the Nedbank Affinity tournament.
In the Nedbank Cup, the writing was on the wall as Muthiya started with a birdie on the very first hole and added four more birdies and also four bogeys in his first day’s performance to post a one-under-par 71 in round-one.