Shutt critical of All Africa Golf Team Championship performance

Teenage golfer Keegan Shutt has expressed disappointment after the country finished third at the just ended All Africa Golf Team Championship which took place at Bulawayo Golf Club last week.

Shutt was part of the Zimbabwe team which also included captain Michael Wallace, Vincent Chidambazina and kelvin Muchenje.

South Africa won the tournament by a massive 31 shot after they finished the tournament on overall 21 – under par while Zambia beat the hosts to second place on 10 – over par while Zimbabwe was four strokes behind in third place.

Zimbabwe went into the tournament looking to use home condition to their advantage to win the biennial continental championship but it was not to be.

“Honestly I think I speak for the team when I say we could have done a lot better and that this is not the result that we wanted. We wanted to finish at least second if we fail to take first and we didn’t manage to do that,” Shut said after the tournament concluded on Friday last week.

“But we managed to take a podium finish it is a positive we can take out of the week so we need to keep pushing in local tournament and other tournament we play in. We need to keep building and hopefully we can finish higher in the next All Africa Golf Team Championship,” he added.

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The 18 – year – old golfer has had an impressive year where he has won three tournaments on the local amateur scene apart from the Royal Harare Golf Club championships.

He also did well at the inaugural Africa Amateur Championship earlier in the years as well as the All Africa Junior Golf Team Championship while he also flew the country’s flag at the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup.

However, he could only settle for a tie for 10th at the All Africa Golf Team Championship on 6 - over par after four rounds of golf and 15 shots behind winner Jordan Burnand from South Africa who finished the tournament on 9 - under, needing a play off to win the individual competition.

"I am not too happy about my performance this week I think I finished 10th position. There is definitely some improving to do but I haven’t played tournament golf in three months and I haven’t seen my coach in a while. I will [play more tournaments now that the exams are done," he said.

Wallace was the best placed Zimbabwean on the individual standings after finishing in a tie for third place along with South African Arthur Astin on 2 - under par after 72 holes.

Chidambazina was tied for 16th while Muchenje finished in a two way tie for 27th.

In the team championship, Mauritius finished in an impressive fourth place with Egypt completing the top 5.

Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Eswatini, Gabon and Botswana were the other countries that took part in the biennial competition.