Vet Lab’s Amadi top of pile
What you need to know:
- Limuru Club’s Simba take longest drive honours in open championship
- Handicap 28 player fires 40 points to win GCE tournament at par-72 Windsor course
Vet Lab Sports Club’s Elisha Amadi beat veteran golfer Joe Otuke on countback with an impressive 40 stableford points, to claim the top prize in the GCE Open golf tournament at the par 72 Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club course on Friday.
A 28 handicapper, Amadi, got away with an early scratch at the second hole, to post 19 points at the front nine. He dropped a shot at the 11th but made a number of pars there after for 21 points at the back nine.
The veteran Otuke, a member at Windsor made three bogeys at the first, second and fifth, recovered one with a birdie at the eighth for 21 points and appeared on course for an outright victory until he picked up a bogey at the 12th and a double at the 15th. And as if that was not enough, Otuke dropped a crucial shot at the home green.
“It is that double bogey at the last hole at the 18th which cost me an outright victory, but I am happy all the same since I also qualified for the grand finale in Dubai in December,” said Otuke.
Amadi and Otuke will be accompanied by another Windsor player Chand Shah who carded 38 points to finish third. Limuru’s Tom Simba hit a massive 346 yards at the par five-fifth hole to win the longest drive contest as Simon Njuguna walked away with the nearest to pin prize.
The event, organised by GCE (Global Connect Enterprises) and local partners, attracted over 100 players from an anticipated maximum of 72.
Started in 2014 in the United Arab Emirates, GCE Open events have been taking place in the Middle East until this year when organisers brought the tournament to Africa.
“This year, we started with Ghana in August, and now we are in Kenya. The next event will be in Egypt on Sunday, but from the response I have seen, we will not only come back to Kenya next year but we will also probably have more events here,” said Ronak Samantary, a marketing director of Enterprise Channels.
Other events will take place in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and India.
In Kenya, the event was supported by Sea Inc, Exuviance, Sports Connect Africa, Wow Beverages, Watts Uop magazine, Macallan Whisky and the Nairobi Hospital.
