MICHAEL Chuma of Nkana Golf Club was at the weekend crowned champion of the Chic ‘O’ North championship held at the Ndola Golf club on Sunday.

The Chic ‘O’ North was returning for the first time in two years after it was shelved due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Chuma played a net score of 144 to emerge victorious and relegate his Nkana team mate Leonard Chibwe to second position.

Both Chuma and Chibwe brought their national team form to the Chic ‘O’ North after guiding Zambia to a first place finish at the Tri Nation golf tournament last week.

Chibwe also grabbed first prize in the A Division 36 holes gross after carding 151 points and was followed in second position by Nitin Chauhan who brought home 157 points.

Chauhan however, had something to cheer about as he won first prize in the A Division net scores with 141 points to beat Chuma who finished in second position with 144 points.

There were prizes for the B Division as well, which saw Roshan Patel win first prize in the 36 holes gross with 167 points and was followed by Rex Mwansa on 168 points.

Mwansa scooped first position in the 36 holes net score on 138 points and Wise Sota was second with 142 points.

Ndola Golf Club captain Sam Kalengo was pleased that the Zambia Gold Union decided to bring back the tournament to Ndola.

Kalengo described the event as successful and hoped to make it even bigger next year, adding that, the future of the sport looked bright considering the numbers and competition that was witnessed on Sunday.

“It has been wonderful, it has been very successful. We last held this tournament in 2019, because of covid, we couldn’t host it the last two years. We had a total of 104 juniors coming from all parts of the country as far as Kasama and Mansa. We had kids as young as six years old playing golf,” said Kalengo.

“The future of Zambian golf is really bright. With junior academies like the one at Nkana, the program we have here and other clubs throughout the country, the future looks bright. We have a number of golfers who are playing very well and of course at Nkana the youngsters are really very good.”

And ZGU treasurer Humphrey Mutambo cautioned the young golfers to avoid cheating when entering their scores on the cards.

Mutambo reminded the golfer that the sport was called a gentleman’s game which demanded integrity and that it was not all about winning at all costs but enjoying the game.

“We have senior players today who want to cheat because that seed was planted in them at a young age. So, please avoid this at all costs because it will be difficult to take out of you when you grow,” said Mutambo.