SA’S JACO WINS KING’S CUP

EZULWINI – His Majesty King Mswati III has crowned visiting South Africa’s golfer Jaco Ahlers as the winner of the prestigious King’s Cup golf tournament.

Ahlers’ unmatched rounds of 66, 65, and 66 ensured he joined the King on the podium to claim the first prize trophy at Royal Swazi Spa Golf Course in Ezulwini yesterday. He finished on 19-under-par 197 to claim a whopping E158 500 in cash.

Ahlers, who is a first-time winner of the prestigious event, needed the last two days of the three-day event to swing the pendulum in his favour. After day one on Thursday, he was seventh and two strokes shy of the top spot. He reclaimed the lead on the second day, but he was forced to look over his shoulders by countryman Daniel Greene, who eventually finished second on 16-under-par 200 to bag E115 000.

happy hunting

The venue proved to be a happy hunting ground for the South Africans, as the top five was made up of golfers from the neighbouring country. This was also noted by the King during presentation and he congratulated the golfers. The top five’s closest challenger was Philip Geerts from Italy, who finished with a score of 14-under-par 202. He pocketed E36 000.

The proud champion was pleased to finally break his duck.
“I did enjoy the day out there, but I made it a bit more difficult than I wanted. I had to make up and down a few times which I didn’t have to do on the first few days and that made it a bit more stressful. I would have liked to have made the final round even less stressful but it’s in the books and that’s all that counts.
“It is special to meet the King. It is my first win in Swaziland or Eswatini,” said Ahlers, who did not drop a single shot in the final round as he cruised to a three-stroke victory.

Meanwhile, Eswatini golfers were unlucky, as they missed the cut after round two. The country’s hopes were on James Pennington, Meshack Zwane and Raymond Mathonsi as well as the trio of amateurs of Mandla Dlamini Jr, Brandon-Jude Rennie and Willard Mkhwanazi, but they all could not go beyond the second round. The best finisher for Eswatini was 45th ranked Pennington, with rounds of 71 and 70.

Yesterday marked the end of the celebrated event, which started with qualifiers on Monday. As rain bucketed down on Friday, the King was forced to only tee off. Attendees, who included sponsors of the tournament, got a taste of his flawless drives.
(More reports in next edition)

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