THE development of junior golf in Namibia continues unabated with a busy year in store.
According to a press release issued by the president of the Namibia Junior Golf Foundation, Adri Pienaar, several junior golf competitions will be held throughout Namibia during 2019 – in Windhoek, Tsumeb and at the coast.
Namibia will also compete in three international junior events – the South African Junior Championships and the Global Junior Curro Championships in South Africa, as well as the All Africa Junior Championships in Botswana.
To qualify for the All Africa team a junior must participate in 80 percent of the tournaments. The top three golfers on the merit list will qualify for the national junior team that will participate in the 2019 All Africa Junior Championships in Gaborone, Botswana from 10 to 16 March.
Besides that, three school league tournaments will be held during 2019, with the finals to be played at the Windhoek Country Club on 16 March and 20 July, and in Walvis Bay on 9 November.
Top South African coach Val Holland will hold three golfing clinics in Namibia and one at Fancourt in George, South Africa for Namibia junior golfers, while local golf clinics will be hosted by Jaco van Reenen, Moritz von Pritzwitz, Gert Olivier and Roux Jeffery.
During 2018 the Namibia Junior Golf Foundation had a very successful year with numerous schools participating in a central and a coastal schools league.
The central league included schools like Windhoek Gymnasium, Windhoek Afrikaans Privaat Skool, St Paul’s College, St Georges and Pionierspark Primary School, while the coastal league included Walvis Bay Private High School, International School Walvis Bay, Kuisebmond primary School, Pro-Ed Academy, Narra Primary School, Immanuel Ruiters Primary School, Namib High School and Namib Primary School.
Willie Els of Walvis Bay was elected as the player of the year, while Gert Olivier, also of Walvis Bay won the coach of the year award.
Els represented Namibia at the Junior Open at St Andrews, Scotland in July last year, while Olivier had the most juniors, who performed the best overall in the various divisions.
The junior golf development program continued to grow with the NJGF paying directly for the coaching of disadvantaged children, while new players in the regions coming to the fore. Walvis Bay Golf Club and Tsumeb Golf Club each had 10 disadvantaged juniors who were being supported, while Rossmund Golf Club had two. The Windhoek Golf and Country Club and Omeya Golf Club did not have any disadvantaged juniors.
Some of Namibia’s top junior players also attended golf clinics in South Africa and Namibia throughout the year.
The first junior golf tournament for 2019 already took place at Omeya Golf Club on 12 and 13 January, while the next one will be the Rossmund Junior Open on 16 and 17 February.
Several other junior events have been lined up including the Windhoek Junior Open on 16 and 17 March, the Namibia Junior Open at the Rossmund Golf Club on 29 and 30 June, and the Walvis Bay Junior Cup on 9 November.
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