At least 150 golfers are expected to grace the 2010 Orange Classic Golf tournament, to be hosted by the Botswana Golf Union at the Phakalane Golf Club. The tournament, which could not be hosted last year due to unavailability of sponsors, comes back courtesy of local mobile giants, Orange Botswana.
After sponsoring the tournament in 2008, the mobile giants pulled back from last year’s tournament only to resurface with an improved package this year.
According to Roger Lal, the BGU Executive Secretary, the overall sponsorship has been increased from the initial P50 000 of two years back to P61 000 for the 2010 edition.
The tournament, which is billed for this weekend, comes with new changes, the most notable being the maiden appearance of ladies at the tournament.
“The intention is to develop the ladies’ golf, give them more chance to compete and to bring up the level of the game,” Lal told Telegraph Sport.
According to the BGU Executive Secretary, Orange Botswana will give BGU P45 000 in cash for prizes, halfway meal on Saturday and prize giving function on Sunday.
The mobile giants will then provide golf shirts, caps and golf umbrellas for the tournament while also providing the tournament scoreboards.
The tournament will be divided into both men and ladies categories with men playing in three divisions, mainly the championship division, the A division as well as the B division while women will only play in two divisions, A and B.
While the A and B divisions are expected to play 36 holes in two days across the categories, the championship division golfers will be expected to play 54 holes over the two days.
“They will play 34 holes on the first day of the tournament and the last 18 holes on the last day. The other categories will play 18 holes per day,” the BGU Executive Secretary told Telegraph Sport.
Lal added that the tournament will be played using a medal stroke play, which follows the format used in international golf tournaments. Lal further added that they are expecting golfers from within and outside of the country’s borders to attend the event, which is the last in BGU’s calendar for this year.
As with all amateur golf tournaments, there will be no cash prizes at the tournament and winners will be rewarded in prizes.
