Teenage Zimbabwe golf star Keegan Shutt has shifted focus to the second edition Africa Amateur Championship after his impressive show at the Junior Orange Bowl in the Uited States at the beginning of the month.
Shutt finished in a three-way tie for fourth place out of 48 golfers from over 25 different countries at Biltmore Golf Course in Coral Gables, Florida from January 2-6.
It was the best performance by a Zimbabwean since the legendary late golfer Lewis Chitengwa famously beat Tiger Woods to win the tournament in 1992.
The 18-year-old golfer who is set to begin college at Odessa in August, is now looking to do well at the continental championship at Leopard Creek early next month where he broke the course record last year in the inaugural event.
Shutt is back in the country and is already readying himself for the upcoming tournaments.
“So next I go to Dugmore Trophy in Bulawayo next weekend and after that, I have International Amateur Johannesburg at Royal Johannesburg the following week and then I have Africa Amateur Champions a week after that,” Shutt said in an exclusive interview at Royal Harare last week.
“My last round I shot there (at the Africa Amateur Championship) was a 62, so if I can shoot anything close to that I think, I can be very happy. I will just try and do what I did last year. I know I played great that round, but if I can manage to do something like what I did last year, I would be very happy,” he said.
The Africa Amateur Championship will be played at Leopard Creek, South Africa from February 5-8, 2025.
The championship will feature 72 men from the Africa region competing in a 72-hole stroke play format with the winner receiving an exemption into The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush.
Shutt also took time to reflect on his performance at the Orange Bowl.
“The experience was good. It was my second time going there, so I kind of knew what to expect. It’s quite a tough course, but overall, I enjoyed it. I am happy with the result that I managed to put out there. I am happy that I managed to fly the flag high and show that Zimbabwe golf can be as good as other countries.
“The target for me going there was to try and finish in the top five because I noticed there were a lot of good players from other countries and I managed to finish in top five and I was very happy with that. It was a good start to my 2025 season,” he said.
Shutt carded 67 70 77 and 68 to finish on 2-under par 282 and was five strokes behind winner Lorenzo Rodriguez from the US who finished on overall 7-under par 277.
The young golfer appealed for brand sponsors willing to partner him as he chases his golf dream.
“At the moment, I have one sponsor Nikhil Bhulabhai who is helping me out with the essentials to be able to go to tournaments, but I am looking for a brand sponsor like Srixon or Titleist because it gets expensive when you play golf every day. You definitely need that to keep going,” Shutt said.