Golf Park hosts KAGC series sixth leg

It's back-to-back action in the 2024 Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) series for the leading amateurs as they converge on the nine-hole Golf Park course at Ngong Racecourse today for the Golf Park Open.

Following last weekend’s Winston Churchill Cup tournament at Thika Sports Club, this event, sponsored by NCBA Bank and hosts Golf Park, has attracted a field of 78 star golfers, including five of Kenya’s top lady golfers.

The lady golfers missed the Winston Churchill Cup due to the Kenya Ladies Golf Union Open meeting at Limuru Country Club.

The five include Kiambu’s Joyce Wanjiru, who won the Limuru event convincingly, Mercy Nyanchama, Nancy Wairimu, Margaret Njoki and Diana Mbuba.

Earlier, the event had attracted an overwhelming initial sign-up of 100 golfers, but entries had to be trimmed to 78 participants under the Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) standards, ensuring a fair and competitive environment on a nine-hole course.

Besides the locals, two Ugandans, Dominic Musoke and Abdalla Kakooza, are also drawn, adding an international flavour to the competition. 

An impressive prize kitty of Sh500,000 will be at stake.

It will be distributed among the top 20 golfers, adding a layer of excitement and incentive for participants. Following last weekend’s victory at Thika Sports Club, 20-year-old Elvis Muigua from the tiny Ndumberi Golf Club, currently attached to Kiambu Golf Club, will be the player to beat.

Muigua, who seems to be following the footsteps of his club-mate and mentor Michael Karanga, has won four of the five KAGC events held so far - Sigona Bowl, Great Rift Valley Resort Open, Windsor Classic and the Winston Churchill Cup.

He only failed to win the Muthaiga Open, which was won by Nyali Golf and Country Club’s Adel Balala and where Muigua came home third.

Balala, who seems to have eventually found his winning formula after a slow 2023 season, is a man to watch at Golf Park. 

Others are Railway’s John Lejirmah and the defending champion Sammy Mulama, now based in Mombasa.

One cannot also write off Michael Karanga, who has been slowly knocking on the doors of victory, though he is yet to show his 2023 form that earned him historic 13 KAGC titles and an international one in Ghana.

Besides offering a thrilling competition, Golf Park Open holds significance beyond individual accolades, as it also counts towards both the Kenya Amateur Golf Ranking and the World Amateur Golf Ranking, providing players with an opportunity to boost their standings on the global stage.

In Kakamega, golfers drawn from the Western Kenya region will be at the par 72 Kakamega Golf Club course at 6am for the third leg of this year’s KCB East Africa Golf Tour.

Club captain James Anzabwa said: “Kakamega is proud to be associated with the KCB East Africa Golf Tour for the second year running. This weekend will be a competitive showpiece as we expect top amateur players to participate in the tournament. I can assure them that the greens are okay, and the fairways are wide enough."

So far, over 300 golfers have participated in the first two legs in Mombasa and Eldoret. This year, the tour targets 3,000 golfers. 

“Our aim is to expand this sport and improve it to an elite level so that we can have players with the skill set to participate in local, regional and international competitions. Kakamega has become a fortress in golf therefore we cannot afford to omit them in our calendar. We look forward to crowning the winners who will take part in the grand finale,” noted KCB Group Director Marketing and Communications Rosalind Gichuru.

At Machakos Golf Club, the nine-hole course hosts the Wakili golf tournament, while a field of over 200 golfers will be at Thika Green Golf Resort for the Mt Kenya Region Inter-counties golf tournament.