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VUSI DECLARES TITLE DEFENCE

24/03/2023 10:28:00 Sports Reporter

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MBABANE – This weekend sees the Swaziland Building Society (SBS) undertaking yet another outstanding event on the country’s sporting calendar.

It is time for the annual SBS Mbabane Golf Club Championship. The two-day event will start tomorrow and conclude on the following day. Yet again the public will be treated to a spectacle of a golf tournament, which will boast some of Eswatini’s top golfers from both the men’s and the ladies stables.This tournament is always billed as a top class event, especially because it has a history of enticing a full field of competitors drawn by the exceptional prizes sponsored by the SBS. The annual club championship is played over two days under the medal format. The best player is the one that plays the least number of shots over the two days and becomes the champion until the next club championship.

Prizes

Some of the prizes that will be up for grabs will be the novelties prize of the nearest to the pin 8/17 and the main prize in category A. The main prize in the ladies category is also a major draw card having been won by Nosmilio Kgomo last year after she carded a score of 183. Kgomo admitted that her idol is none other than Eswatini’s superstar golfing sensation Nobuhle Dlamini. “I spend most of my time on the field and it is paying off. I am looking forward to walking in the footstep of Nobuhle Dlamini. It motivates me to work extra hard in order to reach her level,” she said.

The 2022 edition of the same tournament boasted a field of sixty golfers and it is more than likely that this year that number will be exceeded. The defending champion in the men’s category is none other than Vusi Humphrey Dlamini, who grossed 146 in last year’s tournament. He beat Siboniso Simelane by a single shot. The best net category was won by Dumisa Gama on net 139, prevailing by a single shot over Sabelo Motsa. Dlamini said he would definitely be there to defend last year’s trophy, adding; “I am giving a 100 per cent commitment to this year’s tournament. Golf is a sport that I like, along with the social gathering associated with it, which I believe is important. I will also be there to support the Swaziland Building Society who have sponsored the tournament for such a long time.

“We as golfers should also reciprocate the building society’s involvement in the tournament by giving our full support. Therefore, I will make a full attempt to defend the championship. I should be able to do this and there should be no reason why not.” Other golfers of note that are expected at the tournament will include Banele Mavuso, who was the champion in 2021 and Nelsiwe Mathabela, who is also a former champion of the course. The SBS will be celebrating 60 years of stable growth for sustainable wealth and there is no better way than doing so through the sport of golf as part of its Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programme.

The tournament had originally been scheduled for last month, February 25 to 26 but had to be postponed because of events that were beyond the organiser’s control. Following a review of the activity schedule along with the Eswatini Golf Union calendar, it was agreed that the weekend of March 25-26 would be appropriate. Commenting in an earlier interview with the mainstream media, the Captain of the Mbabane Golf Club, Fisiwe Vilane, intimated that “this is one of our flagship tournaments because it ranks the Mbabane Golf Club members. We remain hopeful to still deliver an exciting edition in 2023, which will be our eighth one with the valued sponsor.”