South African-based Zimbabwe professional golfer Benjamin Follet-Smith rediscovered his mojo on the final day of the National Aids Council (NAC) sponsored 2021 HIV & Cancer Prevention Drive Pro-Am Golf Tournament, firing a 69 to land a two-stroke victory at Royal Harare Golf Club on Friday.
It was Follet-Smith’s second win of the NAC sponsored tournament, and with it pocketed Z$684,000 – a 16% breakdown of the net prize fund of Z$4,275,000.
The total prize fund was US$50,000 before it was converted into Zimbabwe dollar at the official auction rate of 85.5 which was prevailing at the time of the exchange.
Follet-Smith trailed Jack Allard by one shot going into the third and final round on Friday at Royal Harare Golf Club.
The 27-year-old, based at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Club, carded a stunning round of three-under par 69 to end on 211 for the tournament, two shots adrift of second-placed Zimbabwe professional golfer Kayyam Mandhu.
Mandhu closed round one sitting 12th on the leaderboard after an opening round 74, but worked his way up the ladder with a second round 70 and a final round 69.
Ryan Cairns and Robson Saurombe finished in a two-way tie for third on 215 while South Africa professional golfer Kyle Lucas signed for the best round of the day with fiery four-under-par 68.
He was seven under at the turn before dropping three shots on his way home. His first and second rounds of 78 and 76 had derailed his title charge and his final round 68 saw him end his tournament on a total 222.
Allard, a 25-year-old former Zimbabwe Junior Golf Team captain, who was on the money at the close of the second round, dropped to finish fourth after signing for a final round 75 to complement his 72 and 69. He totalled 216 for the tournament.
Fifty three golfers took part in the NAC-sponsored tournament which raised ambitious raised US$52,000 for HIV and Cancer prevention, with a portion meant for KIDZCAN for implementation of childhood anti-cancer initiatives.
The fifth edition of the tournament came hard on the heels of the Zimbabwe Ladies Open Strokeplay competition, held recently which was also sponsored by NAC.
In Zimbabwe, over 6000 new cases of cancer are recorded each year, with cervical cancer alone accounting for 35% of all the cancers.
Lack of community awareness has been identified as one of the major challenges facing the nation in fighting cancer, as 80% of cancer patients present late at stages 3 and 4, resulting in increased premature deaths.
Other challenges include inadequate resources for cancer programmes and limited service coverage, leaving people in outlying areas with limited or without services at all.
