AFRICA AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

February 5, 2025

Tanaka Chatora

Quick Quotes

Q. A superb 7-under par 65 to start the championship. How are you feeling after that performance?

TANAKA CHATORA: I'm feeling great. Tired, obviously, because of the heat. It's very hot out there. I think the goal of today was just to have fun, and I definitely had fun. Whatever happens after this, it's all just me just trying to make it one shot at a time, and yeah, just hoping for a really good week.

Q. It was a difficult start with two bogeys but then you responded superbly with birdies and two eagles. Talk us through the two eagles and then just how happy you are with being able to respond to an early setback.

TANAKA CHATORA: Yeah, I'm very happy with how I came back. The two bogeys that I made were pretty much unforced errors. On 1 it was kind of a three-putt basically, and on I believe it was 3, it was just a bad tee shot.

It kind of annoyed me in the moment, but I got past it very well, and I'm very happy to have managed to bring it back the back nine. Really, really had a lot of fun today, and the two eagles that I had -- how often do you have two eagles in a round? It's not very often. It comes once in a while, and I'm very, very happy and grateful to have signed for a 65 today.

Q. How much confidence does a round like that give you looking ahead to the remaining rounds in the championship?

TANAKA CHATORA: Yeah, I think confidence definitely. It tells me that I do have what it takes to compete with everyone around here.

I think from here on out, just one shot at a time. Just try to limit my expectations as much as I can and just play the course as I find it.

Q. You played with Jack today, who obviously made a great start to the championship, too. When you're playing alongside each other, are you kind of spurring each other on, or are you just focused on your own performance?

TANAKA CHATORA: Definitely. I think Jack played very well today. He had a very hot start.

I think playing with Jack and Kamil, we were kind of spurring each other on. If you hit a good shot, definitely clap for each other. I think if we kind of do that as kind of a four-ball or a three-ball, whatever it is, it prevents the other guy from kind of feeling as if they're not doing as well as they are.

From my perspective, those guys did very well to kind of spur me on, and I did very well to spur them on, as well.

Q. I want to ask you about the Africa High Performance programme. You've been a member of that programme since 2022. How important is that programme or how important has that been in your own development and getting you to the place you are in now?

TANAKA CHATORA: Oh, it's been amazing. It's really helped my game kind of transform to a much better level. When I first kind of met the High Performance team in I think it was Egypt or Uganda, my game was not very good. It was kind of very shaky. I had a pretty decent swing, but it just wasn't where it needed to be.

I think with those guys, they really kind of helped me see golf as a profession, not kind of like a sport, as most people do. They've kind of helped me see the fitness side of things, nutrition, and yeah, just being able to prepare yourself for a tournament, and that's something they do very well, and I'm very grateful for all of the things I've been helped with since my time of joining in 2022.