Goty champ Karichu, Simwa main attraction at Coast Open
The youngest player on the course Daniel Nduva of Nyali Golf Club tees off from the 13th during Barclays Kenya Open Golf Championship at Karen Golf and Country Club on March 7, 2014. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO
What you need to know:
- The field, made up mostly by single figure handicap players, includes Golfer of The Year (GOTY) defending champion John Karichu, who also leads this year’s series.
- Mombasa and Coast as a whole will depend on their youthful contingent led by national team player Daniel Nduva who beat Golf Park’s Tony Omuli by two shots in last’s championship, to keep the cup at home.
Kenya’s amateur golf action shifts to the coast for the 2014 Coast Open at the Mombasa Golf Club’s links course this weekend.
A field of 102 players had been listed to play by end of entry deadline on Wednesday evening.
Coming just a day after yesterday’s Coast Junior Open at the same venue, this year’s Coast Open, Kenya’s oldest national golf event that started in 1913, has once again attracted multiple sponsors. They include Tourism Finance Corporation, Mitchell Cotts, Shiva Carrier, Crown Beverages and Heineken Africa.
The field, made up mostly by single figure handicap players, includes Golfer of The Year (GOTY) defending champion John Karichu, who also leads this year’s series.
Early this month Limuru Country Club’s Karichu lost his home title to Vet Lab’s Nelson Simwa who fired three identical rounds of 70 each to win by a shot from Karichu. Karichu had fired 68, 73 and 70 for 211.
The two plus Golf Park’s Boniface Koskei, a surprise winner of this year’s Kenya Amateur Matchplay Championship are likely to attract a lot of attention in Mombasa.
DANIEL NDUVA
To challenge them for the Barry Cup donated by Percy Barry in 1913, will be, among others, Tony Omuli, Dennis Saikwa, Kenneth Bollo and George Felix from Golf Park, Limuru’s Francis Kimani and Paul Muchangi, Vet Lab’s Robinson Owiti and Njoro Country Club’s Alfred Nandwa.
Mombasa and Coast as a whole will depend on their youthful contingent led by national team player Daniel Nduva who beat Golf Park’s Tony Omuli by two shots in last’s championship, to keep the cup at home.
Supporting him in the hunt for points and the cup are juniors Adel Balala and Mathew Wahome, club captain Alan Dainty, George Munyao and Mombasa Golf Club chairman Eric Nyongesa.
Teeing off for those drawn in the morning is set for 7am and 11.55am for the afternoon draw. Away at Nandi Bears in Nandi County, 120 players are drawn for the fourth leg of the Kenya Forest Service golf Challenge.
Being the only event in the North Rift region this weekend, all the leading golfers from Nandi, Kitale, and Eldoret are expected to battle it out for top honours.
