28 Oct 2013

Minkie Molatlhegi has won the Botswana Ladies Closed tournament organised by the Botswana Ladies Golf Union (BGLU) held in Sowa town over the weekend (October 26-27).

Molatlhegi, who was competing in the tournament of 25 amateur women golfers, managed to collect 166 points over the two days of the tournament and was already leading the pack on Saturday before finally emerging victorious on Sunday (October 27).

The golfer said she was grateful for the good competition she received from her runner-up Tiny Kgatlwane, who managed 181 points and the third placed Patience Matlotse who collected 185 points.

Molatlhegi further said she enjoyed playing in the browns of the Makgadikgadi Country Club in the soda ash town, where she also won the Makgadikgadi Open in July this year. The BGLU president, Bhekesile Mbakile said although the course was a bit torturous, she was glad that her golfers did well. She said they were still going to have more tournaments at places such as Sowa town as her aim since becoming the union’s president three months ago was to take golf to mining towns.

Mbakile said such tournaments would help prepare the players for upcoming major golf tournaments such as the Triangular next year, which features Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as the African Regional that will be held in Kenya and features 23 countries.

In a side interview, Trazinah Marudu, a member of the Professional Golf Association (PGA) said the tournament, which was sponsored by Avis, Liberty Life and Botash, also featured 16 men. She said they also featured some young ladies in the age range of 20 years while the juniors could not make it due to ongoing school examinations. 

Meanwhile, Molatlhegi also won the longest drive in the women’s category while Mooketsi Matolela did it in the men’s. In the Ladies B division, Malebogo Morebodi won the Saturday gross while on Sunday it was won by Mbakile. The Saturday net was won by Laone Mpatane while Agnes Simatlho won on Sunday with Molly Kgamme emerging the overall net winner.

In the A division, the Saturday gross was won by Matlotse while on Sunday it was won by Itumeleng Medupe. The (October 27) Saturday net was won by Cathrine Mosimanekwena while Kate Senye did it on (October 27) Sunday while the overall net was won by Molatlhegi.

Winners on the day received various prizes, mostly household items but no cash as Marudu explained that only professionals win money. The tournament was also graced by the Botswana Golf Union (BGU) president Simon Ramphethu and some of her executive committee members. ENDS