Golfers Chidale, Sailesi leave for Tanzania Open courtesy of Malawian Airlines
Two of the country’s top professional golfers, Adam Sailesi and Paul Chidale, on Wednesday flew out for Arusha, courtesy of return air tickets from Malawian Airlines, to feature in the Tanzania Open to be held from Friday, November 29 to December 1st at Kili Golf Club.
The two were assisted by Professional Golfers Association of Malawi (PGAMW) to get registered for the tournament in PGAMW’s strong campaign to make sure that the pros play more games inorder to gain experience.
PGAMW president paid tribute to Malawian Airlines, saying they do not take the support for granted since this is not the first time they have assisted them to fly out golfers for professional tournaments.
The Tanzania Open is one of the Safari Tour events which is played in East Africa and Malawi players have played several Safari Tour tournaments in Nairobi with another tour coming on January 4th to be played in Nairobi
“We really appreciate they support and every time Malawian Airlines always say they are proud to be associated with Malawi professional golf and they have wished Chidale and Sailesi all the success at the Tanzania Open since they will raise the Malawi flag high,” said PGAMW president Patridge Shycal.
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 in November last year 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 this year, 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.
