Neer Chandaria tops national trials at Muthaiga
Muthaiga Golf Club's Neer Chandaria follows the progress of his shot from eighth tee during the Golfer of the Year Challenge at the Karen Golf and Country Club on September 6, 2015.
What you need to know:
- The squad of 12 will train under coach Brian Njoroge.
- The plus two handicap Chandaria shot three under par 68 in the first round and a level par 71 to beat Ciera who posted 76 and 73 for 149.
- Another Muthaiga player, John Gitonga, beat Golf Park’s Elias Indeche on count back to finish third. Gitonga carded 73 and 79 for 152 and Indeche fired 78 and 74.
Home player Neer Chandaria beat Royal Nairobi’s Bo Ciera by 10 shots to top the national team trials at the par-71 Muthaiga Golf Club course on Tuesday.
The plus two handicap Chandaria shot three under par 68 in the first round and a level par 71 to beat Ciera who posted 76 and 73 for 149. Another Muthaiga player, John Gitonga, beat Golf Park’s Elias Indeche on count back to finish third. Gitonga carded 73 and 79 for 152 and Indeche fired 78 and 74.
TRAINING SESSION
The top 12 players will embark on training for the Victoria Cup against Uganda on June 3 and the East Africa Challenge Cup in Addis Ababa in August.
The squad of 12 will train under coach Brian Njoroge. The 36-hole qualifying event which was to bring together top 15 players from the Order of Merit (Golfer Of The Year) series and the best three from every club in the country was boycotted by the top 15 Goty players who were protesting a decision by Kenya Golf Union to subject them to a qualifying event instead of selecting them automatically based on their performance in the Goty series.
“I didn’t mind participating in the qualifying event. In any case I’m not in the top 15 but since I’m one of the national team players, it was fair to subject us to a qualifying round," said Railway’s Alfred Nandwa, who added that if the KGU puts the pre-qualifying as part of the national team selection criteria for the 2017 he will participate.
“We are not against it but it is the idea of introducing mid-way the season while most of the players have already travelled to different parts of the country playing these Goty events knowing that it's the criteria that will be used to select the national team."
Some of the players who did not participate in the two rounds qualifying event besides Nandwa, include Jeff Kubwa, Anthony Irungu (Muthaiga), George Felix (Golf Park), Kelvin Juma, Dennis Saikwa (Royal), William Odera (Kericho), Robinson Owiti (Vet Lab), John Karichu, Paul Muchangi, John Kariuki (Limuru), Edwin Mudanyi (Vet Lab) and Anthony Kinuthia (Golf Park).
Kenya Golf Union chairman Anthony Muhoro stood his ground when asked why the Union decided to change the selection criteria midway through the season.
“We cannot continue shooting 80s and think it is business as usual. The performance of our team in the last two international events at the Leopard Creek in South Africa and in Swaziland was pathetic," said Muhoro.
“South Africa hold qualifying events to pick their teams and yet their Order of Merit is even bigger than ours."
FULL SQUAD
Neer Chandaria (Muthaiga), Bo Ciera (Royal), John Gitonga (Muthaiga), Elias Indeche (Golf Park), John Karanja (Muthaiga), Simon Mulama (Nyali), John Lejirma (Golf Park), Mike Kisia(Vet Lab), Dennis Maara (Limuru), Moi Lemoshira (Vet Lab), James Ndunda (Machakos) and Edwin Kiarie(Thika).
