Golf Union of Malawi (GUoM) says it will host the Harold Price (HP) Quaich qualifiers at five golf clubs on June 18 to identify golfers that will qualify for Big Brother Malawi National Match-play finals.

GUoM president Gift Chidya Gondwe said in an interview yesterday that the five golf clubs are Lilongwe, Blantyre, Country Club Limbe, Kasasa in Dwangwa, Nkhotakota and Nchalo in Chikwawa.

He said: “We have made a number of changes this year to make the event more exciting.”

“Among others, we have included junior’s and women’s categories as a deliberate move to enhance the sport’s growth as well as improve  competition at all levels.”

Gondwe also said previously, 42 golfers were qualifying for the national match-play finals, but this year the figure has almost doubled to 80.

On his part, GUoM vice-president Thomas Chafunya said the qualifiers will be played in amateur divisions, namely, Championship, A and B.

He said: “The format for the qualifiers will be individual medal and only 16 best performers in every division will be pitted against each other in the Big Brother Malawi Matchplay Championship finals.”

Chafunya also said for the first time, the match-play finals will be played at two venues.

“Country Club Limbe will host first rounds of the juniors, ladies and men’s B divisions while Championship and A divisions will be hosted at Blantyre Sports Club [BSC]. Then the final rounds will also be staged at BSC to determine the eventual winners,” he said.

The HP Quaich Qualifying Tournament features highly on the domestic golf calendar and the Big Brother  National  Match-play Championship provides the climax of it all as it is used for domestic ratings.

“The winners are considered for future amateur championships such as the Region 5, previously known as the Zone VI Championship,” said Chafunya.

He appealed to potential and existing golf sponsors to partner GUoM in the quest to make this year’s event a success.

“We are making a call on them so that they can increase their brand visibility by partnering GUoM through basket funding sponsorship of the qualifiers and indeed powering the finals,” said the GUoM veep.

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