ALL roads lead to the Lowveld this week were the Zimbabwe Amateur Championships will be held from August 7 to the 10th. The Zimbabwe Amateur is the most prestigious local tournament for amateur golfers.
The tournament will be played at two courses Triangle Golf Club and Hippo Valley Golf Club.This year’s tournament promises to be a closely fought out battle given the stiff competition that has been witnessed at the other provincial championships.
The United States-based Ray Badenhorst and Ben Follet-Smith will, however, be the favourites to lift the trophy given their form this.
However, they will face stiff challenge from Chapman’s Thembelani Vundla and Royal Harare’s Tonde Masunga who have been playing consistently throughout the year.The top two golfing stories this week would have to be Rory McIlroy’s win at the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational and Tiger Wood withdrawal from the same tournament.
In his first tournament since his win at the British Open, McIlroy picked up first World Golf Championship title at Firestone. And just like at the British open, Mcllroy made it look easy and also beat Sergio Garcia to second place again.
Garcia had a three-shot lead going into the final round at Firestone, but McIlroy fired off three straight birdies and had the lead when he teed off on just the fourth tee. He took over the lead for good with an eight-foot birdie putt on the 11th hole, he got some further breathing room when Garcia made bogey on the 15th hole and the 25-year-old from Northern Ireland cruised home to a two-shot victory.
With the victory McIlroy became the 13th player with a major and a World Golf Championship, and he joined Tiger Woods as the only players to win them in consecutive starts.
The victory ensured Mcllroy went back to number one in the world golf rankings.
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McIlroy had lost the No 1 position in March 2013 when his game was in a downward spiral as he was adjusting to new equipment. But since winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in May, his game looks as strong as ever.
Judging by the weekend’s play Rory will be the favourite to clinch the last major of the year which is the PGA championships that will be held at Valhalla from August 7 to 10. A dark horse in the field will certainly be Phil Mickelson, Phil shot a 62 in the final round at the Bridgestone Invitational and if he continues with that form he might have a second PGA trophy to add to the one he won in 2005.
Sergio Garcia is another man to watch out for. Over the last few months he has been playing very consistently and this might be the ideal opportunity for him to capture a first major.
