Over 130 golfers for Nomads charity tournament
MBABANE – Eswatini will today host a golf tournament like no other in Ezulwini Golf and Country Club (EGCC). Close to 140 players, about 36 four balls, have registered for the charity game to be hosted by the Nomads Eswatini Golf Club.
The tournament has been supported by a number of local companies through cash and in-kind sponsorships. Information reliably gathered is that never in the history of local golf has there been a single tournament that drew such a high number of players.
Originally, the tournament was supposed to be a bomb start, but the organisers have bowed to the high demand by staggering the tee off times. Instead of having a short-gun start at 10am as originally planned, the first four-ball will now tee off at 7:30am. There will be a seven-minute interval between every four-ball to ensure smooth flow of the big field to allow prize-giving to start at 2:30pm sharp.
According to the Nomads Vice Captain Sifiso Dhlamini, who is the tournament’s chief organiser, the format will be a better ball stableford with scramble drives in every hole. All the golfers will play off their normal handicaps.
Dhlamini said there will be over 20 prizes, which have been made possible by the inspiring support received from the various corporates. “We’re humbled by the support rendered by the various companies, who have either sponsored four balls or donated cash and prizes. Many thanks to all who have supported the charity game, we’re truly grateful. We pray that the tournament becomes a great success and that the weather will be good for golf,” he said.
Dhlamini stated that the tournament was aimed at raising funds to support a befitting charitable cause identified by the Nomads. He disclosed that, this time around, the Nomads Golf Club had nominated the Msunduza Child Centre, which takes care of about 137 underprivileged children, as the beneficiary. “We’ve noted with great interest the excellent work being done by the City Council of Mbabane in taking care of the underprivileged children and needy families. We realised that the municipality was struggling to cope with the high numbers of indigent children and adults, hence the idea to raise funds through the tournament,” he said.
Dhlamini said the competition will involve players from almost all the golf clubs in the country, namely; Mbabane, Manzini, Ezulwini, Mananga, Ubombo and Nkonyeni. The tournament has attracted males, females and juniors.