Former captains Sam Mwale and Webster Kaunga shone like a flare in the annual Blantyre Sports Club (BSC) fundraising golf tournament on Saturday.
The tournament, dubbed ‘Love is in the Air’ in the spirit of Valentine, attracted a 57 strong-field and was preceeded by a Valentine dinner and dance.
Playing off handicap (h/c) 14, Mwale scored 37 stableford points to win the singles’ event and earn a return air ticket to Johannesburg, South Africa courtesy of CBR Tours Travel and Resorts who lived to their slogan— ‘Taking you places.’
Mwale counted out Kaunga (14h/c) while Shariff Bashir (22h/c) was third with 36 points.
The steamrolling Mwale then put the icing on the cake by teaming up with his runner-up Kaunga to win the team event with 45 points. John Suzi-Banda and Donbell Mandala were the runners-up after trailing the champions by a point.
They, in turn, counted out Alfred Chikale and Rodrick Salimu in a contest that went down to the wire.
In his victory speech, Mwale said: “This is my biggest win in my decade of playing golf. I played good golf today, especially on back nine.”
And commenting on their team triumph, Kaunga said: “We complemented each other well all the way. Simply put, it was a deadly combination and making it sweeter was that we are both former BSC golf captains.”
Gilton Chiwaula had the longest drive in the individual stableford (combined) on hole eight while Master Mbale was nearest to the pin on hole five (combined). They both received dinner vouchers for two at BSC.
Anthony Kasunda, Salimu, Paul Araujo, Chikale, Sangwani Hara, Khumbo Mkandawire, Suzi-Banda and Mbale had two clubs and got K5 000 each.
BSC general manager Johnnie Nicolau described both the tournament and the dinner and dance as a success, saying: “The response was overwhelming, we had lots of sponsors and we have raised a satisfactory sum that will go towards paying deposit for a new tractor for the maintenance of the golf course as the old one, which was purchased in 1974, is now grounded.
“We also organised the dinner and dance as a way of saying thank you to golfers’ spouses for allowing their husbands to play golf. As a club, we also encourage people to take part in sports activities to maintain good health.”
BSC golf captain Andrew Ngomwa thanked the sponsors who included CBR Tours, Malawi Communications and Regulatory Authority (Macra), Nico General Insurance Limited and Noel Chalamanda.
“We decided to have the annual event over Valentine period so that we interact and network,” he said. n
