RHA wins ACL Interschools Golf qualifiers

Royal Heritage Academy (RHA) on Friday emerged winners of the Alliance Capital Limited (ACL) National Interschool Golf Challenge Southern Region qualifiers  at Blantyre Sports Club (BSC).

Played on a foursome format—with the best three gross scores to count per team—RHA amassed 170 strokes to finish tops.

RHA captain Talumba Ntaba thanked the sponsors for their continued support towards junior golf.

“I would like to also thank our parents and the school for always encouraging us to come for practice. We are happy to be winners,” she said.

RHA’s feat did not come as a surprise as they have 42 junior golfers currently being drilled at BSC, making it the school with the highest number of golfers in the country.

St. Andrews Primary School (Saips) were the runners-up with a brilliant score of 174 and in third place was Southern School with 186 strokes. Hillview School finished fourth with 208 strokes.

After the two qualifiers, the total points were 50 each for  RHA and Saips and 30 for Phoenix School, Southend School and Hillview.

Of the three schools with 30 points, Phoenix had a strong finish because their 30 points were collected in just one qualifier. The top three, therefore, qualified for the national finals, joining Bishop Mackenzie and Acarcia from Lilongwe. The final are scheduled for June 9 in Blantyre.

A pair of John-Paul Suzi-Banda and Raheel Gaffar won the best gross score for the tournament.

ACL marketing executive Rehanna Rice said her firm was pleased to be associated with junior golf because they believe their business deals with the future. She said ACL was pleased with the progress of the programme and they look forward to the finals with optimism. n