After a successful 2017-18 season which included six top-10 finishes and a win, Jared Harvey is looking forward to teeing it up at this week’s Zanaco Zambia Masters, a tournament he lost by two shots to Oliver Bekker last year.
‘I am really happy to come back here again, a place I have done well at,’ Harvey said on Wednesday. ‘Obviously, my start to last season exceeded expectation. I started my season with a second place here, followed that up with a sixth and a third in Swaziland, another good result at Mount Edgecombe and then my breakthrough. So, this place is special for me.’
Harvey played solidly the entire week in the corresponding event last year here and carded back-to-back scores in the 60s during the first two rounds of the tournament. A 72 followed in the third round and had he signed for a score two shots lower than the 70 he shot in the final round, he might have even forced a playoff with Bekker but it was not to be.
His mid-season results were not bad at all but he admits that towards the end of the season, things got a bit shaky, something he intends to rectify starting in Zambia this week.
‘The first part of last season was really, really special,’ he recalled. ‘As you know, it quietened down towards the end there. But, I am really looking forward to starting the new season at a place I am really comfortable at.’
Despite a not-so-solid finish to the season where Harvey failed to pick up another top-10 finish since the second he got at Sun Sibaya, his last results were not entirely bad as he got a few finishes in the 20s. Now, with a new season and new goals, Harvey is feeling good about his overall game and hopes the Lusaka Golf Club layout plays along just as it did last year.
‘The greens here are similar to Durban with a touch on the slow side,’ he noted.
‘So, when I’m practising at home I’m pretty adjusted to this kind of green speed and I would say the course generally suits my game. My game is feeling good despite the shorter break, we usually have a longer break but with the Tour Championships happening we didn’t. But, I’m happy with the game.’
The tournament tees off on Thursday.
Credit: Sunshine Tour
