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PGA TOUR: Zambia's Muthiya prepares for historic U.S. Open start

/noticias.info/ By Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

MAMARONECK, N.Y. -- Madalitso Muthiya, the first person from Zambia to qualify for the U.S. Open golf championship, isn't out of his element at Winged Foot Golf Club. He isn't out of his league, either.

Is he out of his comfort zone? Oh, yes. Comfort isn't a luxury in his homeland, where there are 17 golf courses among nine million citizens. Heck, there are nearly twice that many courses within 10 minutes of Winged Foot, all of them maintained to a level that could only be dreamed of in Zambia.

But golf dreams prosper in Africa much the same as they do elsewhere in the world. Muthiya, 23, is proof of that, although his route to one of the game's four major championships is paved with hope more than honed skills, not that he doesn't possess the latter.

A fledgling pro playing in just his sixth event, Muthiya earned a berth in the 106th Open by winning the secondary Columbus, Ohio, sectional qualifier at Double Eagle Club with rounds of 67-69, 8 under par. This he did after advancing out of local qualifying with a 63.

"I was just playing my own game. I was determined to play good to make it here to the U.S. Open because I had always wanted to play a PGA TOUR event," Muthiya, one of 39 first-time Open contestants, said Tuesday during a press conference. "It's something I've really worked towards achieving, and I guess it's coming to light now, so it's very exciting to me."

Muthiya, the second youngest of five children, got started in the game at age nine, after his late father, Peter, owner of an insurance firm in Zambia, caught him stealing clubs out of dad's bedroom. Instead of punishment, his father chose indoctrination, paying his greens fees at Lusaka Golf Club, in the capital city of Zambia, after putting a set together comprised of ladies and junior clubs.

By the time he was 15 he was winning whatever junior tournaments were being conducted, drawing the attention of the country's president, Frederick Chiluva. An American friend of the president, Jayme Roth, a government trade representative, helped Muthiya get a scholarship to the University of New Mexico.

The rest has been up to Muthiya, including his golf swing, which is largely self-taught as he gleaned technique from watching television and reading magazines. He has tried to emulate Nick Faldo. "I never had a lesson until I got to college," Muthiya, who competed in the U.S. Amateur at Winged Foot two years ago, said proudly.

Competing wherever he can -- he has a couple of Canadian Tour starts under his belt and one Nationwide Tour event, the 2005 Gila River Golf Classic in Chandler, Ariz., where he finished joint 56th -- Muthiya has won a meager $20,000 as a pro. His best finish worldwide at any level came in March when he ended up second in the Zambian Open.

Cleveland Golf Co. helps out by providing him with clubs and clothing. Inspiration comes from within.

"I'm trying to fulfill a dream that my dad helped facilitate," he said.

Inspiration -- and not intimidation -- also comes from teeing it up next to players he's been watching for years.

"It's obviously exciting for me to see a lot of people that I grew up watching on TV," he said. "So it almost makes me feel I'm going in a positive direction." notas_de_prensa_archivo