Marc Pozzo
Zimbabwean Benjamin Follett-Smith won his maiden Sunshine Tour title when he claimed a two-shot victory over Zander Lombard and JeanPaul Strydom on a total of 13-under-par 275 at the Cape Town Open on Sunday.
Having known this young confident man for many years through my association with his wonderful supporting parents whom I am friendly with; it was no surprise really that this win was due for Ben.
From a young age, hanging around the caddie shack Wingate Golf Club where dad Rob has been such a sound member, both on the course and off it, Ben spent his holidays, any free time, just playing golf. And when he decided to go USA to university on a golf scholarship to the Mississippi State University we all sort of knew deep down, that being a pro golfer was always what Ben had planned for the future. His parents Rob and Avalon have continuously supported Ben, and his dream and they too, can be proud of what will be the first of many titles I am sure for young Ben. In my view and those of others will tell you, without Rob, Wingate might have folded years ago .
Still on his rookie season on Tour, Follett-Smith admitted that he came into the final aiming for a top-10 finish but got more than he’d expected at Royal Cape. On a day when the wind was up and swirling for most of the time, it looked as though either of Lombard, Strydom or Peter Karmis would go on to win at Royal Cape, but a brilliant back nine catapulted the young Zimbabwean to the top spot with a final round of 66,6 under par. He opened his round with a bogey and four pars later, made his first birdie. At the turn, he made another par as the wind made things difficult but from there on, there was no stopping him. He made three consecutive birdies from the 11th through to the 13th before taking a par on the 14th. Another three back-to-back birdies got onto his card as he carded a bogey-free 30 on the homeward stretch.
Follett-Smith will now look forward to the rest of the season with a degree of confidence after his display at the oldest golf club in the country. Now, to rugby and following their Six Nations thrashing of France at Twickenham, bookmakers have slashed England’s odds of winning this year’s Rugby World Cup title in Japan.
Eddie Jones’ side were dominant in their 44-8 win at home on Sunday, a week after they were equally impressive in beating defending champions Ireland 32-20 at Lansdowne Road in Dublin. As a result, bookies have cut England’s odds from 6/1 to 4/1.
The All Blacks, searching for a hat-trick of Webb Ellis Cup titles, remain favourites at 11/10, followed by Ireland – at 333/100. They really looked good against France, on Sunday and certainly, Eddie Jones and John Mitchell are fine tuning this unit just in time for the world show piece later this year.
Keep an eye on the betting, it’s going to be a classic tournament.
Away from sport, another issue bothering me at the moment, is the amount of people talking and driving on their cell phones. It’s actually got so bad of late. Sadly our good friends at Harare Central are doing nothing about it. There seems to be so many police around at intersections but they actually look like they are just out for the sun. They look lethargic and totally disinterested in what’s in front of them.
Looking at statistics, it actually is a worry, with 1,2 million wrecks worldwide recorded yearly and rising from texting and talking on the phone while driving. I wish the ZRP would take this more seriously.
On another note, I am pretty sad a local team could not progress out of the group stage of the Champions League. Our local champions FC Platinum really made hard work of it all and they paid for it by going down to Horoya on Tuesday evening 2-0 to finish bottom of the group.
It brings me back to the debate. It seems our local football teams can’t find out and out strikers. Goals scored in our home league tell its own story. Another team that came crashing down to earth this week was Man United. After riding a crest of wave since the interim appointment of Ole Gunner Solskjaer , they have a mountain to climb away from home against PSG next up, after losing 2-0 at the so called theatre of dreams . The scenes of a horror come to mind !
