Zimbabwe’s top ranked junior golfer Michael Wallace finished second overall in his chase for the individual title in the just concluded All Africa Junior Golf Challenge at the Palm Hills Golf Course in Giza, Cairo, Egypt.
Wallace, who started the final round in fourth place with a one over par total, shot one under par 71 in the final round.
This gave the Royal Harare Golf Club junior a four rounds total of one under-par 288, finishing behind the individual title winner, Pascal Gunther on five under-par 283.
Gunther led the tournament from start to finish despite posting two over par 74 in the closing round.
The South African rising star also led his country to victory in the team title where they shot a total of one under par made up of 228 in round, 217 and 221 in round two and three and a final score of 226.
Morocco, who hosted the tournament in 2018, maintained their second position with 28 over par with scores of 228, 217, 221, and 226, with Zimbabwe coming home third on 35 over par with scores of 229, 237, 219 and 214.
In addition to Wallace, Zimbabwe was also represented in the boys competition by Matthew Bramford, who finished 11th, Tariro November (14th) and Keegan Shutt (18th).
The top two teams in the boys’ competition qualified for the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup which meant Zimbabwe, who last featured at the global tournament in 2016 will have to wait longer before reclaiming their place at the annual event held in Japan.
Kenya finished in fourth place having posted 239, 234, 234 and 232 while Uganda and Zambia came fifth and sixth respectively out of the 12 teams on 82 and 89 over par.
In the girls category where there were only nine teams, Zimbabwe’s team of Margaret Nyamukondiwa, Primrose Chikwaya and Kudzi Mandava finished third overall on 43 over par.
South Africa won the girls title with an impressive score of nine under par total made up of 142, 137, 146 and 142 in the closing day. The South African team claimed Africa’s sole ticket to the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup which was on offer for the winners in the girls’ competition.
Morocco finished second on a one over par total after carding scores of 153, 140, 143 and 141 while Zimbabwe (156, 157, 153 and 153) settled for third.
Hosts Egypt finished third while Kenya’s girls settled for fifth position with 111 over total.
South Africa’s Bobbi Olivia Brown clinched the individual title with an excellent six under par total with rounds of 67, 68, 74 and 73, beating Morocco’s Sofia Cherif Essakali by four shots.
Nyamukondiwa was the highest placed Zimbabwean in sixth position with a total of 14 over par after carding scores of 77. 76, 73 and 76 while Mandava and Chikwaya were eighth and ninth respectively on the girls’ individual leaderboard.