A year to forget for Kenyan teams on international stage

Save for the narrow win against the much improved Uganda in the inaugural Victoria Cup and a tie also with the Ugandans in the East Africa Challenge Cup in Ethiopia, the year 2016 goes down as the most disappointing one for Kenya’s national teams on the international scene.

And it all begun with the new-look Africa Region Five Championship (formerly Africa Zone Six) at the Royal Swazi and Spa course in Ezulwini, Swaziland where Kenya could not even qualify to play in the A division championship.

This year, the organizers of the event decided to use the new format where all the 13 countries, which had been invited to participate, had to go through an 18-hole strokeplay qualifying round.

In the round, the top eight teams were placed in the A division. The Kenyan team, which was made up of John Karichu, Jeff Kubwa, Kenneth Bollo and Paul Muchangi shot 23 over par 239 gross to miss the A division by one shot.

They blamed poor putting on the fast greens at the par 72 Royal Swazi course. But even in the B division, Kenya, was third behind South Africa B, and hosts Swaziland. Other teams in that division included Malawi A and B, Mozambique, Botswana and Lesotho.

During the Matchplay format, Kenya, managed to beat a few teams including Mozambique and Malawi to finish third in B. But overall, Kenya was placed in 11th place.

This was followed by the All Africa Junior Championship in Tunisia where the team was composed of Mathew Wahome, Adel Balala, Tahir Mohammed and Agil Is-Haq, all from Nyali Golf and Country Club.

The four boys performed completely below par, finishing in sixth place on 976 gross. they were even beaten by Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Zimbabwe.

South Africa retained the title and qualified to represent Africa in the World Junior Championship. This event was immediately followed by the Ladies All Africa Championship also in Tunisia where Kenya finished fifth on 502 gross. The Kenyan ladies had won a silver in the 2014 championship.

It was during the inaugural Victoria Cup between Kenya and Uganda hosted in June at Muthaiga Golf Club where Kenya celebrated their first international victory, more so, in the senior category.

Kenya beat Uganda by one point in one of the closest contested match between the two countries. Kenya’s two juniors in the team Agil Is-Haq and home player Mutahi Kibugu made great contribution.

On the other hand, the improved performance by the host was as a result of a newly introduced national team trial which picked players on the basis of form as opposed to the Golfer of The Year series.

The same method, which at the beginning was boycotted by some of the country’s leading players, was used later on to select a team for the East Africa Challenge Cup in Addis Ababa where Kenya failed to bring the cup home despite not losing an encounter.

Kenya and Uganda tied after four rounds but because Uganda - which has dominated the cup since 2014 - were the defending champions, they were awarded the trophy.

Before heading to Ethiopia, Kenya’s team of Bo Ciera, Kenya Amateur Champion Sujan Shah and Neer Chandaria had finished in 63rd out of 71 countries in the Eisenhower Trophy in Mexico in September.

The amateur teams were not the only poor performers in the international scene, as the professionals with a strong contingent of 32 players, the largest squad ever to travel outside for an international tournament also failed to capture the Uganda Open.

Kenyan professionals have over the past decade dominated the event which has recently attracted players from outside the East Africa region.