Has African women’s golf development stalled?

IT’S been 33 years since an African woman won a major golf championship, and the development of women’s golf on the Mother Continent since then has stalled.

Since Sally Little who won the last of her two majors in 1988, with the exception of South African women’s golfers, there has been virtually no progress in women’s golf in Africa.

Lee-Anne Pace and Ashleigh Buhai are currently the top exports from SA, as proven winners internationally. Pace, in particular, has been extremely successful on the Ladies European Tour (LET).

Pace, now aged 40, won the LET Order of Merit in 2010 and has 10 LET titles to her name. Pace also won on the US LPGA Tour in 2014, at the height of her career.

The 32-year-old Buhai, a former teen sensation, has four LET wins.

The Rainbow Nation has produced nine major winners, including two women (Maud Gibb and Sally Little). In total, golfers from South Africa have won 25 major titles.

It’s fair to say, then, that there have been a number of inspiring performances and players from SA women on the world stage.

However, the rest of Africa has not yet been inspired to follow in the footsteps of players from the Rainbow Nation.

One player that has immense potential is Eswatini’s Nobuhle Dlamini.

Dlamini who will turn 30 next month, has steadily risen up through the ranks on the Sunshine Ladies Tour (SLT), and a bright future is still on the cards for the big-hitter.

Though she has earned around a million rand on the SLT, Dlamini took some time to breakthrough for her first win in the paid ranks after turning professional in 2014.

It wasn’t until 2018 in the SuperSport Ladies Challenge at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club, that Dlamini finally made her long-awaited step into the winners’ circle. Since then with nearly, however, she has been the player to beat each time she’s stepped up to the tee on the local women’s golf scene in South Africa.

In fact, in 2019 she not only won the final event on the SLT – The Joburg Ladies Open – but with it the Order of Merit to put an exclamation point on her dominant performances.

“It’s a massive victory for me. I didn’t expect to win the Joburg Ladies Open but I put in a lot of work coming into the final event. I understood I didn’t have to win,” said Dlamini at the time.

Dlamini is yet to win on the LET, but given her incredible talent – a breakthrough victory might not be far away.

Dlamini also believes her performances are important in spurring on a new generation of young black women golfers in Africa.

“I want to be a role model for underprivileged kids – they too can be successful – and I want to inspire them to reach for their dreams. I’m thankful for all the support I’ll be getting as it will make it easier to leave my mark on the international ladies’ golf rankings and break the glass ceiling into the pinnacle of world golf.”

For now, that glass ceiling remains undisturbed – as Africa is crying out for that watershed moment.