Team Malawi failed to meet their target of a top-two finish in the Africa Region 5 Amateur Golf Challenge after settling for the fourth position at Lilongwe Golf Club.

The three-day tournament, which ended on Saturday, saw South Africa retaining the title with 691 gross followed by Zimbabwe on 754.

Zambia were third on 758 while the hosts’ gross was 764. Namibia finished fifth with a 771 gross while e-Swatini anchored the six-team tournament on 810 gross.

Team Malawi’s best performer was captain Folindo Rodrick who was eighth out of the 24 golfers with a 153 gross (77 and 76) and a course rating on nine followed by Peter Lumbe with a 155 gross.

Chafunya: It was an awesome event

South Africa’s Altin Van Merwe came tops with a 139 gross (69 and 70) with a colurse rating of -5.

In an interview yesterday, Rodrick conceded that they were out of sorts.

He said: “We have no excuse, we failed to perform. Of course, the other teams were good, but we struggled. We just didn’t turn up.”

In a separate interview, Golf Union of Malawi (GUoM) vice-president Thomas Chafunya said: “There are a few things to tighten up and just as the president of GUoM Gift Chidya Gondwe said during the closing ceremony, we will go back to the drawing board and make lots of ground changes for the development of the game in the country.”

On the tournament in general, he said: “It was an awesome event and great strides for Malawi.”

Team Malawi, which was coached by Chris Kachiguma, comprised Rodrick, Lumbe, Chrispine Kadzera and Victor Khamalatha while Khumbo Mkandawire, who is a GUoM executive member, was the team manager.

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