Staff WriterSamuel Simpson won the KCM Golf Challenge at Nchanga Golf Club in Zambia with the sort of finish that makes scoreboards twitch and rivals suddenly develop a deep interest in the weather.
His closing 66 took him to 18-under par, one shot clear of a four-man pack, and delivered the South African his third Sunshine Tour title.
Simpson Finds Another Gear In Zambia
Some players arrive at a venue with form. Simpson appears to arrive in Zambia with a standing reservation at the winner’s table.
The leader of this season’s The Courier Guy Order of Merit has built a tidy little romance with golf in Zambia, having won the 2025 Mopani Zambia Open and finished joint fifth in last week’s Mopani Zambia Open.
Now he has added the KCM Golf Challenge to the collection, which is beginning to look less like a purple patch and more like a recurring appointment.
At Nchanga Golf Club, he did not win by bullying the field into submission from the first tee. This was sharper than that. More controlled. More theatrical. The sort of Sunday that looks polite until someone produces an eagle on the 17th and a birdie on the 18th, then wanders off to the clubhouse leaving everyone else to do the arithmetic.
A Clubhouse Wait With Proper Teeth
Before Simpson’s late intervention, Pieter Moolman and Simon du Plooy had already made their own forceful arguments. Moolman signed for a 64, Du Plooy for a 65, and both finished with back-to-back birdies over the final two holes to post 17-under par.
That is usually enough to cause a bit of discomfort. Perhaps even a trophy polish.
But Simpson had other plans. His eagle at the 17th changed the temperature of the tournament in one swing. The birdie at the last nudged him to 18-under par and into the lead, whereupon the waiting game began.
Golf’s clubhouse lead is a peculiar form of punishment. You have done your work, shaken the hands, added the card, and yet your fate is still being negotiated by men with drivers and putters somewhere behind you. Simpson had to sit with that one-shot advantage while the final group tried to catch him.
Goldhill And Porteous Fall One Short
Oliver Goldhill and Haydn Porteous, playing in the closing group, had the chance to alter the ending. Goldhill closed with a 70 and Porteous with a 71, both joining Moolman and Du Plooy on 17-under par.
It left Simpson alone at the top, one clear, the winner of the KCM Golf Challenge and now a three-time Sunshine Tour champion.
The victory also follows his recent Mediclinic Invitational success, adding further weight to a season already carrying the look of serious momentum. Simpson is not merely collecting good weeks. He is converting them.
Van Der Merwe Takes Sixth As Burke Makes An Ace
Behind the leading cluster, Graham van der Merwe finished sixth on 16-under par after a closing 68.
The KCM Golf Challenge also delivered one of the week’s cleanest pieces of theatre when Christiaan Burke recorded a hole-in-one at the 150m par-three ninth hole. He struck a pitching wedge, and the ball did the rest, making him the fourth player to record an ace this season.
There are many ways to brighten a scorecard. Writing “1” beside a par three remains among the least subtle.
Simpson’s Zambia Story Keeps Growing
For Simpson, this was not just another Sunshine Tour victory. It was another chapter in a striking run of form on Zambian soil, where his game appears to travel rather better than most airline luggage.
The KCM Golf Challenge was tight, nervy and settled by a finish of considerable nerve. One eagle. One birdie. One shot clear. That is not a procession. That is a proper Sunday theft, conducted in broad daylight and signed for in 66.
