Emmanuel Golf Academy qualified for the 2025 Junior Golf World Cup after excelling at a tournament that concluded at Seasons Eco Golf Estate in Hartebeesport, South Africa on Monday.
A nine-member team made up of young golfers from Emmanuel College, which is based in Harare, participated in the event with two winning gold in their respective categories with one silver medal and two bronze medals.
The event, which teed off on February 13, saw a total of 64 golfers from 10 countries namely France, China, hosts South Africa, the United Kingdom, Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe taking part.
Emmanuel dominated the girls’ Under-14 competition with Listiah Bangura winning gold while compatriots Kayla Bareki and Nicole Shumbairerwa took second and third place, respectively.
Melisa Muganda won the Girls 15-18 age group. In the Boys under 14 competition, Tadiwa Nyanyirai and Jonathan Musiiwa settled for fourth and fifth place while in the Boys 15 – 18, Ethan Gwaze grabbed bronze with Sean Mukono and Malcom Mapanzure finishing fourth and fifth respectively. It was enough to help the team qualify for the World Cup.
Muganda who ruled the roost in the Girls 15-18 age group was delighted with her performance.
“I came out first in my category and I am so happy with my performance. It was a fun experience with new golf partners so I learnt a lot of things. The course also was very challenging and I learned a lot from the experience,” she said.
Mukono, who is an Upper Six student at Emmanuel College, is already dreaming about making it into the national team.
- Emmanuel Golf Academy qualify for Junior Golf World Cup
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“The tournament was OK. I learned new things. The dream is to also be able to get national recognition and be selected to represent the country. These kinds of results will certainly help us get that recognition,” he said
Boreke was also delighted to have finished second in her category.
“It was an exciting experience for me because it was my second time playing in a well-known hard course. It was a championship course, very fun and exciting to play in,” she said
The golf academy has several international events lined up during the course of the year including the Ireland Junior Tour qualifiers in Botswana set for April as well as the Pepsi Little Peoples Golf Championships which will be played in America in July this year. There is also the Callaway Tour, Titleist Tour, Asian Masters, and a lot of tours that have opened as a result of their qualification for the Junior World Cup
Coach and patron Charles Kamba was delighted with the team’s performance.
“Our team performed very well playing in a course that was filled with 64 players from 10 different countries UK, France China, Zimbabwe, Zambia Botswana, and none of our teams finished outside the top 5, they placed between first and fifth position,” he said.
“The World Cup qualifier is never an easy challenge and we were also playing in championship courses and they are very challenging and they did their best and obviously with the preparations that we had made prior to the tournament indeed it paid off,” he said.
