Battle for KAGC supremacy heads to Thika

Kenya’s top amateur golfers resume their hunt for points in the 2018 Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) series following the just concluded Kenya Open at Muthaiga, and last weekend’s Tannahill Shield at Royal.

And Thika Sports Club is the venue for the annual Winston Churchill Cup this weekend with the par 72 course currently in a good condition.

Surprisingly though, only 53 players were drawn to vie for the Cup plus some points in the KAGC series.

During the 2017 event, Vet Lab Sports Club’s Mike Kisia fired an excellent nine under par 135 made up of 68 and 67 to win the Cup by seven shots from his club-mate Edwin Mudanyi.

“My game is better now than during the Open, and I am confident that I will do well in Thika, having won in 2016 and finished second last year," Edwin Mudanyi told Nation Sport on Thursday.

Kisia and Mudanyi are in Saturday’s starting list that also includes John Karichu and Paul Muchangi of Limuru, Royal Nairobi’s Dennis Saikwa and Kevin Juma, Robinson Owiti of Vet Lab and Railway’s John Lejirmah who last month beat Kisia in the fourth hole of a sudden death play off, to win the Windsor Classic title at Windsor.

The two had tied on 220 gross after the end of regulation play. Hosts Thika will be represented by among others, the long-hitting Edwin Kiarie, David Matano and Simon Ndungu. Also in the list, is Sigona’s youngster Adam Tayebjee who represented Sigona during last weekend’s Tannahill Shield at Royal.

It will be interesting to see how all these stars perform particularly after a disastrous outing in the Kenya Open.

RUIRU HOSTS BIG FIELD

At Ruiru Sports Club, a big field of 250 was drawn for the G4B tournament, an annual event at Ruiru which brings together a group of 12 sponsors under the G4B banner.

This is the first event under newly elected club captain Peter Mwaura, a former Nation Media Group staff, who says the event will be the first one in a series of major events to be held at Ruiru this year.

It is also the first event following last week’s Annual General Meeting which ushered in a new management committee which has among other things, a multi-million course irrigation project set to kick off soon.

Back in Nairobi, Royal Nairobi will host the Johnnie Walker golf series while at Muthaiga will be the venue for the Association of Consulting Engineers of Kenya (ACEK) 50th anniversary golf tournament which has attracted most of the golf-playing engineers in the country.

A big field was also drawn for the Crown Paints tournament at the par 73 Nakuru Golf Club course while golfers in the mountain region will be at Nanyuki Sports Club for the Heritage Insurance tournament.