Pitsi Molebatsi, former South African U23 men’s football star player, is representing the country at this year’s FootGolf World Cup underway in Florida, America. He is part of the South African team competing in the tournament, which commenced on 26 May and ends on 6 June.
This is the first time ever the country is featured in the competition, and South Africa is the first ever African country competing in the competition.
Molebatsi is the only Free State player in the national team. He was selected on merit and brilliant performance.
“I recently won the Footgolf PRO-AM Tournament in South Africa, which took place on 29 April at the Serengeti Golf Estate,” says Molebatsi.
His ability to accurately strike the ball stood him in a good stead to compete internationally. Molebatsi is among the 971 athletes from 39 countries competing in this growing sport’s largest marquee event.
The left-footed player boasts numerous prestigious accolades. As a student of the Central University of Technology (CUT), Free State, he was recognised as sportsman of the year and player of the year 2005-’06. Molebatsi also had a spell with the Bloemfontein Young Tigers while the club campaigned in the National First Division (NFD), South Africa’s second professional league.
He was also capped with the South African Student Sports Union (Sassu) men’s football team during his active tenure in 2007.
Molebatsi’s promising football career was however ended by a car accident on 11 July 2007. On recovering from the accident, he found another fascinating sport, FootGolf and he’s excelling. FootGolf is a new sporting code played on golf courses,
following golf’s rules and scoring. In simple terms, it’s like golf with a soccer
ball and 21-inch diameter cups that the balls sink into. The sport is very
challenging for players without a background in golf. The players use a normal
size 5 ball to play the game. Holes get provisioned for at the golf course to
fit the ball. The player who finishes the 9 or 18 holes with the least number
of kicks wins the game just as with golf.
