Andrew Ngomwa and Connie Muguvu outclassed a 62-strongfield at Mulanje Golf Club on Saturday to take glory in the Habp Invitational Golf Tournament in men’s and ladies’ categories, respectively.
For their victories, Ngomwa earned a return air ticket to Johannesburg, South Africa whereas Muguvu, who has so far won 15 trophies since February, secured a return air ticket to Lilongwe.
However, there was no easy way to the top for Ngomwa, whose success had to be decided on the 17th hole after he rolled in a birdie putt that repelled tight contention from his biggest challenger Phillip Phambana.
By close of play, Ngomwa’s advantage came to one as the handicap-17 golfer carded net-65 while 24-handicapped Phambana settled for the second place with net-66. Jimmy Changa collected net-68 to take the third place. He counted out Suhail Osman and Frank Jomo to fourth and fifth positions in that order.
“It was not an easy task to earn a seven-under-par finish on this course. But thank God I did it,” marvelled Ngomwa, who bogeyed the first five holes.
In the ladies section, handicap-18 Muguvu did not drop sweat to take that crown because with net-74, she was way ahead of her runner-up handicap-32 Margaret Mkwanda who carded net-80.
Habp managing director Harold Lungu, whose company distributes lubricants such as Castrol and BP oil nationwide since 2007, said they organised the event in Mulanje to interact with golfers and appreciate support they get from companies around the tea-producing district.
To sum it up, Lungu presented a K350 000 cheque to Mulanje Golf Club for maintenance of the greens while Puma Energy Malawi managing director Davies Lanjesi provided each contestant with K20 000 worth of fuel. n
