Top amateurs face-off in Limuru Open
What you need to know:
- Limuru Open is the ninth leg in the 2017 Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) series, formerly Golfer of the Year (Goty).
- Mike Kisia, Railway’s Samuel Njoroge, Kenneth Bollo and Jay Sandhu from Royal Nairobi Golf Club as well as the Great Rift Valley’s Simon Njogu and Kiambu’s Michael Karanga are among those hunting for points at Limuru.
It’s back-to-back action for Kenya’s top amateur golfers as a field of 85 converge on the 6,872 yards long par 72 Limuru Country Club course for this year’s Limuru Open and Brackenhust Cup.
Limuru Open is the ninth leg in the 2017 Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) series, formerly Golfer of the Year (Goty).
The event comes in less than a week after the Kenya Amateur Matchplay Championship at Vet Lab Sports Club where Thika Sports Club’s Joseph Gathumbi caused a major upset by beating national team player Edwin Mudanyi 3-1 in the 36-hole final.
The handicap two Gathumbi, whose victory moved him from 15th to sixth place in the KAGC Order of Merit with 152 points, is among those drawn at Limuru where the format will be 54-hole strokeplay.
Leading the challenge however, will be local player John Karichu currently playing off plus one and is among the national team players heading to Uganda next week for the Victoria Cup.
Karichu, a former Goty champion, is on course to re-claim the title as he leads with a total of 256.3 points from the eight events played so far.
The hosting club Limuru boasts of the highest number of single figure handicap golfers in the country where besides Karichu, others hunting for points will include John Kariuki, Dennis Maara, Paul Muchangi and the never-say-die Francis Kimani.
Having lost in the final of the matchplay championship at his home course, Vet Lab’s Edwin Mudanyi is a man on a mission at Limuru.
He was leading by a shot until he fired out of bounds at the last home to drop to fourth place as home player Paul Muchangi clinched the title.
“The course is currently in great shape. It has been prepared well for this weekend, and I will try and put behind last year’s event and see if I can win this time round,” said Mudanyi after a practice round at Limuru on Wednesday.
He is currently ranked second in the KAGC with 240 points, well ahead of his club-mate Mike Kisia who dropped to third from second place on 216 points.
Kisia, Railway’s Samuel Njoroge, Kenneth Bollo and Jay Sandhu from Royal Nairobi Golf Club as well as the Great Rift Valley’s Simon Njogu and Kiambu’s Michael Karanga are among those hunting for points at Limuru.
As usual, the field will be off as early as 7am for the first round which will be followed by the second round in the afternoon while the third and final round is set for Sunday morning.
