RUSTENBURG If results of the Sunshine Tour events that have been played so far are anything to go by, then 2009 is likely to go down the annals of history as a year in which all of the seven Zimbabwean golfers failed to win a single title between them. The Sunshine Tour South Africas premier golf circuit is one of the worlds six leading mens tours which make up The International Federation of Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tours. Although Zimbabwean golfers have failed to dominate the events on the calendar on a regular basis over the years, they have been able to make their presence felt by winning at least one or two tournaments each year.
However, their form appears to have hit rock bottom this year with only a handful of tournaments left before the curtain finally comes down on the 2009 calendar. Marc Cayeux, Tongoona Charamba, Ryan Cairns, Mike Curtis, Ignatius Mketeke, Sean Farrel and Farai Chitengwa are all yet to win a title. In January, Cayeux Zimbabwes most consistent performer on the Sunshine Tour narrowly failed to defend the Nashua Masters title he won in 2008.
Although he put up a spirited show, Cayeux scored 264 (-16), finishing second to eventual winner Darren Fichardt of South Africa who made 263 (-17). That loss set a losing trend that was to continue pronouncing itself in each of the next nine tournaments that the 31-year-old golfer was to take part in.
However, despite failing to win any silverware so far, Cayeux is still the most successful Zimbabwean golfer playing in South Africa with a ranking of 31 on the Sunshine tour Order of Merit. On 12 November he received R16 881 for scoring 285 (-3) in the MTC Namibia PGA Championships, pushing his total earnings for the year to R323 554.11.
Tongoona Charamba, another Zimbabwean, has also failed to rediscover the kind of form that saw him winning the SAA Pro-Am Invitational in 2006. In 21 tournaments he has taken part in so far this year, Charamba has failed to win any of them, although he has come close on two occasions.
He finished second in both the Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open, held in May and later the Telkom PGA Pro-Am played in August. Charamba is number 43 on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit and is the only other Zimbabwean within the top 50.
Anches Hansen of Denmark of Denmark leads the Order of Merit followed by Jaco Van Zyl (RSA), David Drysdale (Scotland), Darren Fichardt (RSA), Charl Shwartzel (RSA) and Retief Goosen (RSA).
Post published in: Zimbabwe Sports News