Williams in Mopani Redpath Open

AFTER improving on the Sunshine Tour order of merit standings with his Tshwane Open perfomance, Zimbabwe’s highest ranked professional golfer Mark Williams hopes to continue from where he left off in the 2017 Mopani Redpath Zambia Open which tees off tomorrow morning. The golf tournament has a $300 000 prize money. “We are committed to meeting the standards set when Nkana last held the event in 2015 despite coming in at short notice as hosts,” Zambia Open organising committee chairperson Emmanuel Mutati told the Zambian media.

“We will certainly not reduce the prize money, the least we can do is to maintain it, and we have to raise the bar we set for ourselves in 2015. We will certainly not reduce the amount.’’

Williams, ranked 49, is the top-ranked local professional after his 12th place finish at the last Sunshine Tour event, the Tshwane Open, and will be expected to do well in Zambia.

The Mopani Redpath will be staged at the Nkana Golf Club in Kitwe with more than 150 top professionals fighting for honours and Williams will have countrymen Ryan Cairns, Greg Bentley and Mohammed Mandhu for company.

Now representing Pecanwood Golf Estate, Williams has participated in 23 events this year. He has made a number of cuts. But he will have to contend with several players from the Gary Player Class of 2017-18 development initiative in his Zambian adventure.