Welkam Phiri and Doreen Kavala on Saturday emerged winners in the Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) invitational golf tournament at Blantyre Sports Club (BSC).
The tournament marked the revival of MTL’s romance with golf after a three-year absence and an impressive field of 78 golfers took part in the event.
The men’s category proved to be a tight contest as the top three tied on 36 points and had to be separated through a count-back. Phiri counted out Furkan Gani, who in turn, counted out Nasir Suite to third place.
The defining moment for the 11-handicapped Phiri was on the last hole where he needed to putt in two to make it 36 points and, boy, he did it to perfection.
“I am just overwhelmed to be part of MTL’s return to golf and I would like to say thank you for such a wonderful tournament. I did not expect to win because it was tightly contested. I would like to thank my playing partners, in particular Paul Chidale, who was a source of inspiration,” said Phiri.
Kavala emerged the winner in ladies’ category with 37 points while Harriet Marriam was her runner-up on 35 points. Chadwick Mphande won the senior golfers’ category.
The winners each received a trophy, pro staff bag and Wimax router plus 25GB while their runners-up each went away with a trophy, a Callaway driver and wimax router plus 25GB.
In subsidiary prizes, John Suzi Banda had a two club that earned him K39 000. Teri Amaro had the longest drive on hole 17 while ladies’ golf captain Connie Muguvu was nearest to the pin on hole 14. In men’s section, Harold Lungu had the longest drive on second hole whereas Allen Mukwenha was nearest to the pin on hole 12.
MTL chief executive officer Harry Gombachika said golf gives them a platform to offer communication solutions.
“In his movie titled The Terminator, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger said: ‘I will be back!’ and let me announce that we are back in the golf fraternity.
“Thanks to all of you for taking part in the event, we at MTL are in transition —we want to provide high-quality solutions and we see ourselves transforming people’s lives through communication,” he said before making a K350 000 donation towards the maintenance of the greens.
Newly-elected BSC golf captain Webster Kaunga said the tournament was about celebrating MTL’s return to golf and he thanked the golfers for taking part in the event.
