Eight-year-old golfer Zimele Gasa recently won the 2026 SA Kids Golf Junior Africa Challenge, the biggest title of his young career.

The Brettenwood resident finished first in the boys’ 7-8 category at San Lameer Country Club on the South Coast.

The annual tournament, held from August 17 to 21, attracted 165 golfers aged five to 18 from seven countries: South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, France and the United States.

The Junior Africa Challenge is a three-day medal-format competition, with players’ scores across all three rounds counting towards their final positions. SA Kids Golf describes it as Africa’s signature junior golf tournament.

“This is the biggest tournament in Africa and I came first,” said an excited Zimele.

His latest victory continues a remarkable rise since he first picked up a golf club at the age of five.

When the Courier featured Zimele in July last year, he had already won four SA Kids Golf KZN titles in less than a year. He had also recorded four runner-up finishes, including second place at the Kids World Championship qualifier in Hartbeespoort.

At the time, the then six-year-old had already set his sights on the Junior Africa Challenge.

Zimele’s interest in golf started during a family holiday in Dubai, where a visit to a driving range sparked his fascination with the sport. After returning home, he repeatedly asked his mother, Thembekile, to allow him to take up golf.

“I could only hit the ball like one metre. Then I started hitting the ball further and further,” he said.

Now a Grade Two pupil at Curro Salt Rock, Zimele has accumulated 40 trophies and dreams of following his golfing hero, Tiger Woods, into the professional ranks.

“I want to be a professional and play on the PGA Tour, or I can go on the Sunshine Tour,” he said.

Asked where his talent comes from, Zimele had a simple answer: “God.”