Amartripal leads six into KCB Masters Pro-Am
What you need to know:
- In the subsidiary events, John Kamais, a handicap two golfer won the nearest to pin, while the longest drive awards went to Kimeli Mutai of Nandi Bears and Nakuru’s Esther Karuga.
- The fifth and final leg for the amateurs, which will be the fourth round for the professional is set for June 15 at Royal Nairobi Golf Club, where the top 20 pros in order of merit will qualify to play in the Sunshine Tour sanctioned Karen Masters.
Home player Sahota Amartripal scratched two holes, one in each half but still managed to return a commendable score of 41 points, to claim the overall title in the fourth leg of the 2019 KCB Road to Masters golf series at the par 73 Nakuru Golf Club course at the weekend.
The handicap 21 Amartripal, who will now lead a team of six players to the Karen Masters Pro-Am next month, carded 21 points in the first nine and 20 at the back nine for a total of 41 points, beating a field of over 160 players.
“It was great day for me. I played my round with minimal pressure and the course was playing well,’’ said Amartripal.
To join the overall winner in the trip to Karen will be lady golfer Clem Muli, who carded 37 points to finish second overall, while others will be guest winner John Kibet from Kericho (34 points), staff winner Allan Kirui (34 points) and junior winner Daniel Kiragu.
The long hitting Kiragu posted 34 points, while the sixth qualifier slot went to Nakuru lady captain Shiro Kaime, who was picked up as a wild card decided from a lucky dip of cards conducted during the prize giving ceremony.
However, the tournament’s lady winner Margaret Mutwasi, who had posted 35 points, could not qualify for the Karen trip because of her handicap 26.
Meanwhile, Eldoret Golf Club’s Andrew Chelogoi won the gross title after posting 32 points and the two nines went to Stephen Macharia with 22 points and Sahota Mandeep, who carded 21 points.
In the subsidiary events, John Kamais, a handicap two golfer won the nearest to pin, while the longest drive awards went to Kimeli Mutai of Nandi Bears and Nakuru’s Esther Karuga.
The fifth and final leg for the amateurs, which will be the fourth round for the professional is set for June 15 at Royal Nairobi Golf Club, where the top 20 pros in order of merit will qualify to play in the Sunshine Tour sanctioned Karen Masters.
Golf Park’s David Wakhu led the 24 pros, who participated after firing an impressive five under par 141 that included an excellent round of five under par 68 in the second round.
At Vet Lab Sports Club, 14-year-old Leo Zurovac won the Jacob’s Cup after beating X.N. Iraki in the final match to become the youngest player ever to win the popular cup at Vet Lab.
He started his campaign by beating Elisha Ogonji 5-3, then knocked out the handicap nine John Barorot with an easy 7-6 margin.
His next victim was past captain Mark Karobia, who he beat 3-1 to set up a date with Iraki, who at the end of regulation play (18th) was leading 1-up, though Zurovac sank a five-meter putt for a birdie to win the hole thus forcing a play- off, which went all the way to the 25th hole where the youngster overpowered the much experienced Iraki,
In the subsidiary events in the tournament sponsored this year by Brinks Security, Deep Shah carded 40 points to win by one point from Peter Waiyaki, while in third place was Dilan Thakkar on 38 points.
Winning the round one subsidiary was Jane Wokabi with a score of six against bogey, while Navin Jha was second on plus three against bogey.
