Zimbabwe’s premier golf tournament which had been scheduled for August 28 to September 2 has been cancelled after organisers of the tournament failed to access foreign currency needed to reward tournament winners.
Several local golfers were looking forward to the tournament as they are lacking game time on their Zimbabwe Professional Golfers Association (ZPGA) Tour which has so far brought on three tournaments.
“The cancellation of this year’s Zimbabwe Open is a microcosm of what’s happening throughout the nation. We are desperately sorry and understand the situation we are all in fully,” ZPGA president Gary Thompson said.
“We are not cynics or opportunists, we are simply mindful that only together can we work through the rough to the fairway.”
Thompson said ZPGA was working around the clock to come up with a tournament, something similar to the Zim Open that will act as a stop gap measure to give locals some game time
“So a home grown solution that we can broker is to produce an event of world-class golf quality that is also an amazing experience for the fans. And we can do it! We would bring in South African participation that could take on a new flavour –even a pan African one – at a fraction of the cost and paid in our own currency,” Thompson said.
“Take for example our Nigerian brothers are celebrating 50 years of their association in golf. The ZPGA could host The Zimbabwe Invitational with a superb field of pros. The bottom line is we must broker solutions not simply talk about broken situations.”
