Amateur match play tourney has evolved

National team coach Brian Njoroge follows the progress of his tee shot on during a practice session at Muthaiga Golf Club on January 29, 2016. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO |

What you need to know:

  • Amateur Championship of Eastern Africa was the precursor of present-day Kenya Amateur Matchplay Championship.
  • Kenya Golf Union (KGU) records indicate that the event started in 1928, but it existed even before and had had eight previous champions under the Nairobi Golf Club and three under The Golf Union of Eastern Africa.
  • Since KGU was formed at the Nairobi Golf Club, the first President of the Union, Arthur Tannahill, must have magnanimously bequeathed the event to KGU.

Many years ago, in a clubhouse of unlined corrugated iron sheets measuring 16 feet by 12 feet with a murram floor, which was located near the junction of Ngong Road and Mbagathi Way, many resolutions were made.

Some of the resolutions made in 1910 at this clubhouse, which, unlike modern day clubhouses had bicycle racks instead of a car park, are still alive today, long after the energetic, visionary and enthusiastic band of early Nairobi Golf Club members are gone.

One such enduring “gift” to Kenyan golfers from 1910 was the Amateur Championship of Eastern Africa organised by Nairobi Golf Club (the honour of the title “Royal” was bestowed by His late Majesty King George V in 1935).

The committee of the time did not set handicap restriction on who could play. From 1910 to 1922, the players started off with a 36-hole qualifying stroke play competition and the best eight proceeded to match play knockouts to determine the champion. The first hole of the course was across the stream and players had to putt on browns. The competition remained unchanged until 1922, the year the clubhouse relocated to the spot near the fourth brown. This is the location of the current clubhouse of the Royal Nairobi Golf Club.

Amateur Championship of Eastern Africa was the precursor of present-day Kenya Amateur Matchplay Championship. Kenya Golf Union (KGU) records indicate that the event started in 1928, but it existed even before and had had eight previous champions under the Nairobi Golf Club and three under The Golf Union of Eastern Africa.

Since KGU was formed at the Nairobi Golf Club, the first President of the Union, Arthur Tannahill, must have magnanimously bequeathed the event to KGU.

On Friday, we shall get to know the 2016 champion at the Sigona Golf Club who will get an automatic ticket to play in the 2017 Barclays Kenya Open.

This year, the event was oversubscribed and the competition committee set handicaps of those eligible to six to arrive at the desired 64 players. This is part of the duties of committees. To set up the local rules, conditions of play and even who is eligible to play.

Committees: The Rules of Golf describe the “Committee” as the body in charge of the competition or of the course. The CONGU handicap system refers to a different committee, the Handicap Committee.

This is the committee in charge of allocating new handicaps and ensuring that players maintain handicaps that are a reflection of their true playing abilities. There is no mention of Captains neither in the Rules of Golf nor in the CONGU manual. It is however not uncommon to hear of captains who run competitions without committees or who arrogate to themselves the duty of determining golfers handicaps.

It is expected that these committees would have people who are not averse to consulting the Rules of Golf or the CONGU manual when making decisions. However, from what I am hearing lately at some of the clubs, there is need for urgent help.

Local Rules: Under the Rules of Golf, the committee is expected to make local rules for local abnormal conditions. There is a list of “allowable” local rules and recommended wording for the same. A committee is not allowed to make decrees willy-nilly from out of the blue no matter how sensible they may sound. Committees are not allowed to waive a Rule of Golf in any way.

They may for example extend relief for embedded balls through the green if they feel that the condition of the golf course warrants this. They may however not require golfers to put the correct stableford points, add their scores or write their home club (or even their membership numbers).

The player is responsible for ensuring that the correct gross score is recorded on his/her card and that in a handicap competition, their handicap is recorded. The committee is responsible for putting the stableford points and additions.

Unfortunate golfers who have been disqualified for not recording their home club on the scorecard will do well to inform the committees or captains that disqualified them that they erred in making that decision.

Same conditions for all players in stroke play competitions: One of the local rules that committees are allowed to set is one on preferred lies. Normally, this will be done when the course is not at its best and the relief may be given for when the ball lies in closely mown areas.

Recently, a committee introduced this condition half way through a competition. The golfers who played in the morning did not play under this condition. However, some of the ones who teed off in the afternoon were allowed to place their golf balls on favourable lies on the fairways. The introduction of such a local rule in the middle of a tournament is not allowed and such a competition should have been cancelled.

Conditions for stroke play competitions (stableford, medal, bogey, par competitions) must not be altered once the competition has commenced. If for example the green-keeper is not an early riser and he arrives at the course after some players have completed their rounds on a stroke play competition day, he can’t alter the positions of the holes for the remaining field. If he did, the competition must be cancelled. This is because in stroke play, a competitor plays against all the other players on the field.

The only exception to this rule is when a hole is damaged beyond repair. In this rare case, the committee is justified in cutting a hole in a nearby similar position.

This will not be a problem at the Kenya Amateur Match Play competition at Sigona Golf Club since each player is competing against an opponent. As long as both the player and his opponent play under the same conditions, it does not affect the other matches.

Since its inception, the player who holds the record for the most wins of the Kenya Amateur Match Play is the late John Mucheru who won it a record 6 times.

The only past winner left in contention at the time of writing this article is Jay Sandhu whose home club is the originator of this competition, Royal Nairobi Golf Club.

[email protected] The author is a Kenya Golf Union Executive