Airtel donates K7.3m towards Malawi Profession Golf Tour
The Professional Golf Association Malawi’s forthcoming Tour continues to attract sponsors as Malawi’s leading mobile service provider Airtel on Friday donated K7.3 million towards the event, dubbed the Warm Heart Professional Golf Tour, to take place from November 22 to 25 at Lilongwe Golf Club.
Speaking during the function, Airtel Malawi senior official Frank Magombo said the company decided to help the golf Tour as one way of giving back to the community.
Magombo said Airtel is associated with happiness and good things hence the need to help PGAMW.
Receiving the cheque, PGAMW President Patridge Shycal applauded Airtel for the donation, saying since they are expecting more than 80 golfers from Africa such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Botswana and others, they need more resources to host them adequately.
Shycal said 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 we want golfers to earn their salaries from playing golf as it is done in other countries,” he said.
Shycal said the forthcoming tour is one of the two international tours the association pledges to be hosting annually apart from the local tournaments.
He added that the association has received overwhelming support from other countries with help of chairman for the Africa Professional Tour Eddie Isamkia, who is expected to come during the tour.
Shycal said that they were in talks with other PGAs from Zambia and Zimbabwe for possible international tournaments.
“So with this support from Airtel, we are almost there now,” he said.
PGAMW has since fetched $45,000 since it started the fundraising drives following the similar donations from car dealers Toyota Malawi, FDH Bank, TNM, Umodzi Park and others.
According to a communique from PGAMW, the tournament is being organised in partnership with Umodzi Park & Resorts, home to the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) and the only 5-star hotel in Malawi – The President Walmont Hotel managed by Peermont.
Peermont are also adding a prize for the tournament winner – a luxury and fun filled weekend at Emperor’s Palace Hotel in Johannesburg.
As this is also part of a new era of international golf in Malawi, the Department of Tourism in the Ministry of Trade, Trade and Tourism has approved PGAMW to use the Malawi Tourism logo and the link to official Malawi Tourism website www.visitmalawi.mw, which is in line with the Strategic Tourism Marketing Framework and the Domestic Tourism Marketing Strategy, which the Ministry is encouraging to develop and promote events to support the growth of both local and international tourism,” the communique said.
PGAMW says due to an overwhelming demand from golfers in the region, the committee has setup a quota of 10 Players’ maximum per country to control the number of golfers not to exceed a field of 80 players in total that Lilongwe Golf Club can accommodate a day.
They target to raise USD50,000 as total prize fund of 15 percent goes to the winner and the balance to be shared amongst the top 30 players.
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