Malik tops at Royal Junior Strokeplay

Taimur Malik of Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club in action during the Royal Junior Strokeplay golf championship at the par 72 Royal Nairobi Golf Club course on December 11, 2018. PHOTO | LARRY NGALA |

What you need to know:

  • It was a brilliant performance by Vet Lab’s Shonay Shah, who fired rounds of 64, 62 and 69 for a total of 195 nett, to claim the overall nett title.
  • The award for the youngest players went to eight-year-old Belinda Wanjiru of Golf Park on 332 gross, Nyeri’s Henry Kungu(10) on 429 and Junaid Manji also aged 10, who scored a total of 328 gross.

Round one leader Taimur Malik of Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club on Tuesday beat Muthaiga’s Mutahi Kibugu by one shot to claim the overall title in the 54-hole Royal Junior Strokeplay golf championship at the par 72 Royal Nairobi Golf Club course.

The 15-year-old Malik currently playing off handicap three, carded five over par 77 in the third and final round, to win the Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) event with a total of 233 gross.

It was a tough final round for the 39 juniors particularly after the early morning rain which made the course soggy.

“The rain made the course a bit tough though the greens were still playing well. But I am very happy winning the event just a few days before the season’s national grand finale, the Nyali Open in Mombasa’’ said Malik, who bogeyed three holes and picked up only one birdie at the front nine.

He was doing well at the back nine until he picked a double-bogey at the par five-14th having dropped a shot at the 11th for three over par at the back nine.

Kibugu on the other hand, carded six over par 78 for a total of 234 gross. This saw him emerge the gross winner in the 17 to 21 years category, beating his club-mate Zubair Khan by five shots.

All the same, Khan took the runner up prize on 239 in that category. In the 14 to 16 years category, Rishabh Sagoo posted a total of 245 gross to win by one shot from Muthaiga’s Njoroge Kibugu.

Only a few girls participated in the event, where Vet Lab’s Channelle Wangari completed a 54-hole total of 248 gross to win the 13 years and under category beating Nyali’s Andrew Wahome by one shot.

It was a brilliant performance by Vet Lab’s Shonay Shah, who fired rounds of 64, 62 and 69 for a total of 195 nett, to claim the overall nett title.

The award for the youngest players went to eight-year-old Belinda Wanjiru of Golf Park on 332 gross, Nyeri’s Henry Kungu(10) on 429 and Junaid Manji also aged 10, who scored a total of 328 gross.

The prize giving ceremony was attended by JGF trustees Justice Mary Angawa, Nancy Ikinu, Larry Ngala, national junior coach John van Liefland, JGF Western region representative Johnson Korir, and Golf Talent Foundation chairman David Kihara.

The last event in the JGF calendar will take place at Sigona Golf Club from Monday next week, where the Foundation will award the 2018 top junior golfers in the country.