Ladies, amateurs in epic weekend battles

Kenya’s top amateur golfers will gather at the par-72 Kenya Railway Golf Club course this weekend in search of points, as the 2019 Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) series resumes with the Railway Invitation which comes two weeks after the 95th edition of the annual Tannahill Shield at Royal Nairobi Golf Club.

A field of 67 players was drawn for the 36-hole event that is sponsored by Eastern Flour Mills of Machakos, courtesy of Machakos Golf Club chairman Swarn Singh, who is also a member at Railway.

The field excludes Limuru’s John Karichu, Royal Nairobi’s Dennis Saikwa and Vet Lab’s Edwin Mudanyi, who have since turned professional and no longer qualify to play in the series.

The three have dominated the KAGC series over the past couple of years and their absence now gives room to players like Nyali’s Daniel Nduva and Matthew Wahome as well as Railway’s Samuel Njoroge and George Felix; Simon Njogu of the Great Rift Valley Golf Resort; Vet Lab’s Robinson Owiti and Mike Kisia to show their prowess.

Nduva currently holds the Kenya Amateur Match Play title, while Njoroge is the KAGC defending champion.

All of these junior players including Royal Nairobi’s Korby Gatiramu, Njogu Kungu, Victor Maiyo, Vet Lab’s Leo Zurovac and home player Kash Padam represented their clubs during the Tannahill Shield, hence this weekend’s tournament provides an opportunity for some of them to avenge their Tannahill defeat though the form at Railway will be stroke play.

The recent rains in Nairobi have improved conditions at the nine-hole Railway course though it is expected to be playing short unless it rains before Saturday’s first round.

At Royal Nairobi, it will be the turn of the ladies as the par-72 course hosts the 81st edition of the annual Eileen Belcher tournament.

The prestigious tournament originally known as the Inter District Cup and whose cup was donated by Eileen Belcher, the first chairman of the Kenya Ladies Golf Union (KLGU) in 1937 to encourage match-play between the districts, is played by golfers in teams made up of four zones.

Each zone is comprised of several golf clubs with each team represented by four players and a reserve.

Hence a field of 108 players forms the Red Zone which draws its players from Royal, Golf Park and Central region; and the Yellow Zone with players from Vet Lab, Sigona, Railway, and the Rift Valley, will be battling it out against the Blue and Green Zones with golfers selected from Muthaiga, Windsor and Coast, and Karen, Limuru and Western respectively.

The format as usual will be 54-hole foursomes match play off scratch for all the divisions with a match won earning the team two points and one for a draw (halve).

At the par-72 Thika Sports Club course, the only course in the country that was not affected by the adverse dry weather conditions, will host the Crown Paints golf tournament.

Elsewhere, Thika Greens will host another round of the Inter-County Challenge which this time brings together teams from Kiambu, Machakos, Nyandarua, Laikipia and Nakuru Counties with over 250 golfers drawn to battle it out for the team challenge title as well as individual prizes.