Online Reporter
Hip golf shoes, long locks and a very beardy beard! All three painting a very apt mural of one Keiran Vincent.
In the shadows of more established professionals on the Liv Golf Tour, Kieran Vincent announced himself on golf’s world stage in the most timeliest fashion. From one “cool cucumber” to another – it takes one to know one.
That’s local top pro, Ignatious Mketekete’s description of how the rookie went about his business at the Royal Harare Golf Club last week, making Vincent his pick as the breakout local pro at local golf’s gladiatorial battle that the FBC Zimbabwe Open is.
Golf, like every sport, is as much about timing as it is about talent. Many have the ability to win on the global stage, but few can do it when it really matters, and after finishing joint fourth in the R2.5 million Sunshine Tour event, young Kieran knew it was a case of now or never when he confirmed his participation at this year’s Open.
And Kieran chose the former, rattling off four rounds of 71, 67, 67 and 71 to grab the tournament by the scruff of the neck and see of the golf extravaganza 12 under, eight strokes behind winner Micheal Hollick.
Even this fourth-place finish may not have been enough for Mketekete to overlook Kieran’s brother, Scott’s third place finish and two stroke edge on the leader board who will consider himself unlucky not to have been closer to the winner and runner-up: Hollick finished 20 under while 2001 Open winner, Darren Fichadt finished two strokes behind the winner and four ahead of Scott.‘A generational player’
Speaking to B Metro after the tournament ended on Sunday, Mketekete said cheekily of his fellow pro: “He’s going to be around a long time and do amazing things. If he wasn’t going to win this one, he is going to win the next eight Zimbabwe Opens, that’s how good I think he is.”
High praise indeed from Mketekete, someone who knows more than most what it takes to reach golf’s summit, and likely sees a little of elder brother Scott’s journey in Kieran’s first, not so tentative, footsteps.
Like Scott, Kieran honed his craft in the United States collegiate system, where he cut his teeth before joining the LIV Golf Tour. Kierans’s development looks to confirm his potential to become world number one, just like Nick Price did.
Kieran’s participation in this year’s Open has been less than patient however, falling just short of a potential victory. Form is everything in golf, and Mketekete has clearly not underestimated the role of confidence in the nation’s hopes of a first Open title win by a local golfer.
Sprinkle in the invaluable experience of Open veterans Robson Chinoi and Tongo Charamba, and the recent LIV Tour winning clout of his brother Scott, and Mketekete believes the rising star has struck the perfect balance.
‘Strike while the irons hot’ seems to be the thinking, and Kieran’s irons are about the hottest in town right now.”
