ZIMBABWE took an early lead on the first day of the junior golf tri-nations tournament at Chapman yesterday. Justin Kersten, Tanaka Mhere and Jack Allard inspired the team to an early lead as they won their matches.

The team appears too strong for their opponents Zambia and Botswana.

The annual event was last year held in Malawi and Zimbabwe convincingly won it.

Yesterday the game started with foursomes in the morning and Zimbabwe had to pair Kiren Vincent with Stewart Krog, Mbongeni Maphosa partnered Kristen Justin while Jack Allard and David Amm completed the pairings.

After the first round, Zimbabwe managed 10 points with Zambia on six while Botswana managed two points.

The players used the foursomes format which they will use again this morning.

The afternoon event were the singles and the Zimbabwe team used Amm and Allard.

Zimbabwe continued with their dominance in the singles as they managed 18 points with Zambia on second while Botswana were a distant seven points.

Team manager, Roger Baylis, believes the young players are doing fairly well.

"We started on a high note and we hope to continue with the same form.