Malawian Airlines once more flies out golfers to Kenya tourney

Malawian Airlines has once more come to the rescue of Malawi Professional Golfers Association (PGAMW) by sponsoring three return air tickets for golfers Paul Chidale, Victor Kachepatsonga and their accompanying official to participate at the at the Karen Masters 2019 tournament in Nairobi, Kenya from June 27–30.

PGAMW last week made an appeal for sponroship to stakeholders and the corporate world.

This is not the first time for Malawian Airlines to assist PGAMW as they also donated an air ticket to Chidale for him to play at the Safari Tour also in Nairobi, that took place in February.

“Malawian Airlines wishes the golfers all the success at the tournament as they will raise the Malawi flag high,” said Manager Commercial, Charles Ng’ambi.

PGAMW will now only be required to pay government taxes while the two players are still raising their subsistence and upkeep while one well-wisher has already identified accommodation for them in Nairobi.

The president of  PGAMW, Patridge Shycal applauded Malawian Airlines for their gesture, saying they don’t take the donation for granted.

He said the 2019 KCB Karen Masters is scheduled to take place at the Karen Country Club where international and local pros will showcase what has made them world class professional golfers.

This year’s event is fully sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour of South Africa. The KCB Karen Masters has transitioned into a distinctly African tournament, designed to promote the game of golf in Africa and to support local players in their quest to become world class golfers.

“Karen Country Club have partnered with the Sunshine Tour to bring around 100 of their top-ranking players to Karen next month to compete against 32 of Kenya’s finest, as well as some great players from other African countries, to give a field of 152 professional players.

“He said they decided to offer the two player slots they were give to Victor and Paul because these two have continuously showed enthusiasm  to participate in such high competitive tours.

PGAMW was established in December 2017 and has already made swift strides in its effort to be the leading professional golf body in Malawi and the southern African region and just last November it successful hosted the first ever-professional golf Tour at Lilongwe Golf Club which dubbed ‘The Warm Heart Pro Tour’.

It attracted 63 golfers from eight African countries and Europe namely Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Eswatini, Namibia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Portugal.

Early January, a delegation of PGAMW was in Kenya on a partnership and learning tour with the view of having Malawi professionals to be invited to play in the Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) and the  Safari Tour which is organised by the Kenya Open Golf Limited (KOGL).

For many years, Malawian golfers have been playing as amateurs and that status forbid them from receiving cash prizes but they were entitled to material prizes like golf-related equipment, television sets, microwaves, trophies and other prizes.

But now PGAMW want golfers to earn their salaries from playing golf as it is done in other countries. The Warm Heart Pros Tour is one of the two international tours the association pledges to be hosting annually apart from the local tournaments.

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