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Hatfield Junior Golf Academy players who were marshals at the 2025 FBC Zimbabwe Open with the Academy head, Jane Salimo (standing behind)

WHILE the focus this past week was on the pros at Royal Harare Golf Club battling it out at the 2025 FBC Zimbabwe Open, a group of young eager faces in matching golf shirts quietly stole the hearts of many. It is not everyday that one gets to see juniors marshal at such a big tournament but, junior golfers from Hatfield Junior Golf Academy had been invited to learn and help marshal at the 2025/26 Sunshine Tour season opener. It was a proud moment for Academy head, Jane Salimo who thanked Zimbabwe Open for giving them the opportunity to marshal. It was the first time that they have ever done it.

“We are Hatfield Junior Golf Academy and these are future champions. They are very enthusiastic and we have ages ranging from four to 16 years old. We have boys and girls and we thank the Zimbabwe Open for giving us the opportunity to come through and participate in marshaling this year. It’s the first time that the juniors have done marshaling. They have enjoyed learning how to do marshaling duties,” said Salimo.

Salimo said the youngsters have a bright future ahead of them and would love to see them forge different successful paths in their golf careers. “We are looking forward to these young ones becoming everything, from professional golfers to teaching professionals, to Pro-Shop marketers and everything golf related. I do believe that these children share different strengths in that regard. Some of them will leave this country and represent it well,” she said. Salimo expressed her gratitude to those who played a part in laying the foundation for Zimbabwe’s next big golfing stars. She said they have their eyes set on taking junior golf development to greater heights. “They all play golf at Chapman Golf Club, and also at Falcon. These juniors started their golf here at Royal Harare and we thank Royal and Terry Cairns for giving them free access to the range. They had a very solid foundation. “We are looking to building golf development to greater heights. At the moment, we feel that not enough is being done in terms of resourcing grassroots. I did urge ZGA to do more for grassroots and I hope that they did take heed,” she said.

The juniors marshaled all the four days of the 2025 FBC Zimbabwe Open.