By Zim Sport Live Writer
Zimbabwe golf starlet Keegan Shutt underlined his status as one of the brightest golf prospects on the continent after finishing in the top five at the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl International Championship in Florida, USA on Monday.
Shutt was tied for fourth position on the leaderboard alongside Swiss Joshua Hess and American Joey Laciofano after four rounds of action at the Biltmore Golf Club in Coral Gables.
Shutt, who is preparing for his maiden season of junior collegiate golf in the US at Odessa College in Texas carded scores of 67, 70, 77 and 68 for a tournament total of two-under par 282.
The Royal Harare golfer was five shots behind winner Lorenzo Rodriguez from USA who managed overall 7 – under par 277 after carding 67, 69, 65 and 76.
Shutt’s performance became the best by any Zimbabwean at the tournament in the last decade after he bettered Kieran Vincent’s sixth place finish at the 51st edition of the Orange Bowl during the 2014 – 2015 event.
Vincent shot overall 1 – under par 283 at the time and was six shots behind winner Joaquin Nieman from Chile.
The best performance by a Zimbabwean at the Orange Bowl came in 1992 when the late Lewis Chitengwa Jr defeated future golf superstar Eldrick “Tiger” Woods by three strokes.
In second place at the Orange Bowl this year was Swiss Joshua Hess who was one stroke behind the champion on 6 – under par 278 after carding 68, 69, 66 and 75 while Colombian Tomas Restrepo was third on 5 – under par 279.
At total of 48 golfers from over 26 countries Bermuda, Iceland, Ecuador, Czechia, Paraguay, Switzerland, Peru, Bolivia, Turkey and Zimbabwe among others took part at this year’s event.
BOYS TOP 5
- Lorenzo Rodriguez, Miami 67-69-65-76=277 (-7)
- Joshua Hess, Switzerland 68-69-66-75=278 (-6)
- Tomas Restrepo, Colombia 71-70-68-70=279 (-5)
t4. Keegan Shutt, Zimbabwe 67-70-77-68=282 (-2)
t4. Harry Cox, England 72-70-72-68=282 (-2)
t4. Joey Iaciofano, Jupiter, Fla. 70-75-68-69=282 (-2)