Superb Samuel Njoroge wins Railway Invitational tourney

Home player Samuel Njoroge on Sunday produced a superb round of seven under par 65 at the par 72 Kenya Railway Golf Club course to walk away with the 2019 Railway Invitation title.

The plus three handicap Njoroge, who is also the Kenya Amateur Stroke Play and Kenya Amateur Golf Championship(KAGC) series champion, picked up two quick birdies at the second and third, dropped the only shot of the day after three putting the fourth hole to cross to the second nine on one under.

It was at the back nine where he started producing his usual fireworks, starting with an eagle at the 10th, which he followed with two successive birdies at the 12th and 13th, before making two more birdies at the 16th and 18th, for a two rounds total of five under par 139, beating both defending champion Robinson Owiti of Vet Lab Sports Club and Nyali’s Mathew Wahome by eight shots.

“I made some few bad shots during the first round so I needed to recover those shots today. The course is currently in good condition and easy for one to score low if you how the greens behave," said Njoroge, who has played only three events in the KAGC since the season started, and won all of them.

This victory gave him a total of 81 points towards the KAGC series, whose next event is the Kenya Amateur Match play Championship to be held at Limuru Country Club from May 23 to 26.

On the other hand, Owiti fired one under par 71 in the final round for 147 to beat Wahome on countback for the second place, where Wahome on two over par 74 took the third prize.

Overnight leader Ebill Omollo found the going tough in the second round, where he posted an awful 87 to drop to 17th place with 159 gross.

He, however, won the first round gross with his level par 72, while winning the second round gross was the visiting Nigerian player E. Monday from Ikoyi Golf Club who carded one over par 73.

Youngster Kash Padam of Railway won the overall nett title with a score of 145 nett, winning by three shots from former Amateur Match Play champion William Odera on 148. The first round nett winner was Kevin Juma of Royal on 72 nett and M. Sila also on 72 won the second round.

A total pf 59 players participated in the event sponsored this year by Machakos-based Eastern Flour Mills courtesy of Machakos Golf Club chairman Swarn Singh, who said he was most delighted to sponsor the event.

Speaking during the prize giving ceremony, Singh, who is also a member of the club, said he had sponsored events at Railway many times, but this was the biggest event he has been involved with and promised to continue supporting the club.