Lina Tour golf tourney prep hots up

DAR ES SALAAM: PREPARATIONS for the third edition of the Lina Professional Golfers Tour (Pro-Am) tournament are going well as the participation confirmation deadline for the subsidiaries’ men’s and ladies’ categories is approaching.

The tournament Director, Yasmin Chali unveiled in Dar es Salaam yesterday that registration deadline for the professional and elite amateurs was May 31, where she added that the subsidiary category’s deadline is June 30 this year and appealed to those who are yet to register to do so before the deadline as few slots remain.

Professional golfers Nuru Mollel who won the first round at TPC Club and Hassan Kadio who won the second round in Morogoro are among the title contenders for the third round of the Lina PG Tour which is set for Arusha in mid-July this year.

Likewise, Ally Isanzu who has won both the first and second rounds for Elite Amateurs is among the topclassed golfers enlisted for the third round’s race, according to Chali, the tour’s Director from the Lina Nkya family.

According to Chali, 38 professional and elite golfers have confirmed to participate in the 3rd round of the Lina Tour Pro-Am tournament ahead of its official tee-off at Arusha Gymkhana course.

She said the deadline for the pros and elite golfers (with handicaps 5 and below) wishing to vie for Lina PG Tour’s cash packages was closed late last month enlisting 19 pros and 19 elite golfers.

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The tournament’s third round of the five-round series is scheduled to tee off from July 11th to 14th this year at Arusha Gymkhana Club (AGC).

Chali said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that all the preparation for the July event is going well.

“Everything is going just as planned, we are delighted to have received over 38 golfers for the two main categories of the tournament,” she said.

The event heads to Arusha after the two successful editions held in March at TPC Moshi Club in Kilimanjaro while the second round was staged last April at the Morogoro Gymkhana Club course in Morogoro.

Organized by the Said Nkya family in collaboration with the Tanzania Ladies Golf Union (TLGU), Tanzania Professional Golfers Association (TPGA), and Penda Golf Tanzania, the 72-hole stroke play tournament is exclusively for Tanzanian pros and amateur golfers.

Lina PG tour is a unique golf series being staged in Tanzania at the moment, besides paying homage to Lina Nkya, who spearheaded the success of women golfers at the global podiums, it is also titled the Road to Dubai, especially for the overall best performers of both professional and elite golfers’ categories.

The tournament has been introduced as part of activities to commemorate the late Lina Saidi Nkya, who passed away on January 19, 2021, in Moshi Kilimanjaro.

Ally Isanzu is the only golfer who has won backto-back titles after being crowned elite category champion in Morogoro and TPC Moshi.

Hassan Kadio won the pros title in Morogoro while Nuru Mollel won the first edition in a sudden-death playoff over close challenger Fadhili Nkya at the TPC Moshi Club.