By Carlos Kambaekwa
WINDHOEK – Namibia’s golfing wunderkind, Kasoma Paulino, is certainly destined for the big stage following his near faultless display at the recently concluded Junior Open Championship at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) in the United Kingdom.
Kasoma, 17, the only golfer to represent Namibia at the high-profile international event, played some excellent golf with virtuosity and confidence way belying his tender age, with strong swings that would have left Tiger Woods green with envy.
The youngster can easily be placed in the same bracket as former Namibian greats Adre Basson, Trevor Dodds, Joe Nawanga and Schalkie van der Merwe.
Despite windy and rainy conditions, Kasoma shot an astonishing 75 on the second day that saw him finishing 47 out of a field of 125 top international golfers from around the world.
His scores of 84 and 75 proved enough to earn him the cut on the third day of competition. What caught the eye is his overall third-place finish from the African legion behind South African Luca Fillipi, who topped the African leader board at the prestigious biennial championship.
Kevin Le Blanc from Ireland fired a final round 74 to claim a podium finish on five over 221. Le Blanc secured the Nordic and Central European Trophy, while joint runner-up Teodoro Soldati from Italy took the Southern European Trophy.
Filippi was the top African performer among the seven players of the 21-strong African contingent who made the cut. The South African finished five shots ahead of Anita Uwadia in the final round.
Regrettably, the zone trophies were based on net scores after 36 holes and the Nigerian golfer edged ahead of Filippi for the African Trophy.
“I’m very thankful to the R&A for making it possible for Kasoma to participate in the event, it was an eye-opener but I would like to appeal to sports authorities to assist athletes with the required resources if we are to compete on equal footing against our more advanced opponents,” said Kandas Paulino, who accompanied his son to the UK.
Paulino added that the championship was a fantastic experience for Kasoma and his African counterparts as the youngsters not only learned a lot from competing on such a tough layout against top international opponents: “The championship surely gifted them the ideal opportunity to forge friendship with other golfers from around the globe.” –Additional info: Saga.com.za
African Nations: 54-hole results
230 Luca Filippi (RSA) 74 78 78
235 Anita Uwadia (NIG) 78 74 83
243 Kasoma Paulino (Nam) 84 75 84
250 Elliot Obatoyinbo (NIG) 88 84 78
251 Justin Kersten (ZIM) 80 83 88
252 Maged Hamad (EGP) 93 80 79
258 Kaleigh Telfer (RSA) 81 90 87