NAMIBIA’s top amateur golfer Likius Nande capped a remarkable season by winning the Windhoek Lager Africa Golf Championship in Windhoek on Saturday.
Competing against the top amateur golfers of 11 southern African countries, Nande gave a masterful and consistent performance to complete the 54-hole A division with a four-over-par total of 217.
He received strong competition from Daniel Nduva of Kenya who finished two shots behind on 219, while Denmark Mulambo of Zambia came third on 227.
Nande displayed great composure in the final round when Nduva drew level with him, but the Namibian finished strongly with two birdies and four par shots to win the tournament.
It was the first time that a Namibian golfer had won the A division, while it capped a great season for the 20-year-old Nande who had won all five the Namibian qualifying tournaments going into the African Championships.
Nande was a gracious winner, congratulating Nduva on his effort.
“I want to congratulate all my competitors and a special shoutout to Daniel for giving me strong competition. Thanks to Windhoek Lager for sponsoring this event and thanks to my team and my captain who kept on pushing me,” he said.
Namibians also fared well in the other divisions.
Anton Bonifacius won the B division, finishing seven shots ahead of De Wet Boshoff of South Africa, while Frank Wemba of Zambia came third.
Frederick Vilander of Botswana won the C division, with Stefanus van der Merwe of Namibia coming second and Thierry Lapoule of Mauritius third.
Ruth Chandaengerwa of Zimbabwe won the Women’s division, followed by Angel Robinson of Tanzania and Evah Magala of Uganda, while Conrad Stoltz of South Africa won the Disabled category, followed by Daniel Slabbert of South Africa and Joe Oosthuizen of Namibia.
The tournament, now in its fifth year, was once again a big success and drew praise from the deputy minister of Sport Agnes Tjongarero at the prize giving function on Saturday night.
“It’s encouraging to see local Namibian companies supporting the government in sponsoring sport and it is a privilege to have been invited to this prestigious golf championship and watch it grow and foster solid international relationships between our African countries,” she said.
Namibian golfing great Trevor Dodds, who was once again present as the ambassador of the championship, said the tournament had grown tremendously.
“It’s by far the premier tournament for club golfers I would say nearly world-wide. It’s pretty amazing that we get to host it and if we didn’t have companies like Namibian Breweries with their whole culture of supporting sport, we wouldn’t have any of this, so it’s really amazing,” he said.
Regarding Nande’s performance, Dodds said he had a bright future.
“I had the privilege of watching him play a bit. He’s got a lot of potential, he is still young and his game is still a bit raw, but it looks really good and he’s got a bright future ahead of him,” he said.
