ALL SET FOR FNB NKONYENI CHALLENGE

Mbabane – It is all systems go for the two-day First National Bank (FNB) Eswatini Nkonyeni Challenge pre-qualifier tournament.

About 64 golfers will feature in this spectacular competition, starting from tomorrow up to Sunday at the plush Nkonyeni Golf Estate. Eswatini Professional Golfers Association (EPGA) has indicated that a record 18 out of the 25 local professional golfers registered before yesterday afternoon deadline. By the local standard, this is the highest number of professionals entered for a single tournament. There is E70 000 prize money for the professionals and E15 000 for the amateurs, all courtesy of First National Bank (FNB).

Among the big names registered in the professional category are the likes of Raymond Mathonsi, James Pennington, Meshack Zwane, Oscar Dube, Frans Strauss, Peter Dlamini, MJ Dlamini, Thulani Mkhaliphi and John Fakudze. “The appetite shown by the golfers is exciting,” said Eswatini Golf Union (ESGU) president Albert Mhlanga.

“We’re very happy with the generous sponsorship from FNB for the upcoming Pro-am golf challenge, which will lead to the big Sunshine golf challenge in July,” said Mhlanga. He added; “This will really improve golf among the local professionals and further encourage amateurs to work harder on their game to look forward to turning professionals in the near future.”

Interest

Sifiso Nhlengetfwa, who is secretary of the Eswatini Professional Golf Association (EPGA), said due to the high interest shown by the players, amateur golfers will feature on both days instead of Sunday only as previously planned. He predicted that the winner would get a special honour considering that he would walk away with the top prize on Father’s day.

Nhlengetfwa said this weekend’s Pro-am would be a warm-up tournament for the three-day FNB Eswatini Nkonyeni Golf Challenge scheduled for July 28 -30 2022. Africa’s premium golf operator, Sunshine Tour, will run next month’s challenge which will pit the local professionals against South African and international starlets.

Five of the 18 local professional golfers to participate in this weekend’s pre-qualifier will gain automatic admission into the FNB Eswatini Nkonyeni Golf Challenge based on their consistent good performance in the monthly games hosted by the EPGA since last year. Eswatini will have 15 players in the FNB Eswatini Nkonyeni Golf Challenge comprising two competitive amateurs plus 13 professionals. The latter will include the five players who will gain automatic entry and eight who will qualify based on the excellent performance this weekend.   

Director of Golf at Nkonyeni Estate Frans Strauss said preparations were progressing well for tomorrow and Sunday.  He said the course was in good shape and the onus would be on the golfers to display their skills.

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