Top golf pros collide at Safari Tour series in Nyali
What you need to know:
- The first round is set for Sunday with the final round on Wednesday.
Kenya’s professional golfers are down at the Coast this weekend, for the first leg of the newly launched Safari Tour, a pro golf series aimed at preparing the local pros for international tournaments.
Among the pros drawn include the long hitting Dismas Indiza from Mumias Golf Club, Jacob Okello and David Wakhu from Golf Park, Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) captain John Wangai, Windsor’s Riz Charania and Simon Ngige of Thika Sports Club.
The tour owned and run by the Kenya Open Golf Limited, a subsidiary of the Kenya Golf Union (KGU), will feature a total of eight events most of them to be played in Nairobi and Thika.
This weekend’s event at the par 71 Nyali Golf and Country Club course started with a coaching clinic conducted by the pros for coast based juniors at Nyali.
On Saturday, the 30 pros who travelled to Mombasa for the 72-hole (four rounds) tournament will join Nyali members for a Pro-Am (professional and Amateur), an event which the pros will be using as a final build up before they embark on the tour opener where at stake is pirze moeny of Sh1 million the winner to take home Sh180,000.
CUT AFTER ROUND TWO
There will be a cut at the end of the second round with the top 20 pros and a tie to proceed to the third and fourth rounds.
The first round is set for Sunday with the final round on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the par 73 Nakuru Golf Club course will host the Gold and Platinum golf series whose first leg was staged at Njoro Country Club on August 4.
The tournament has attracted over 150 players though post entries are still being accepted.
In Nairobi, Royal Nairobi will be the venue for the Crown Paints golf series. Action also continues at Kiambu Golf Club where a field of 100 players was drawn for the K-Link Healthcare golf day.
Away in Nyanza, the 2018 Nyanza Open has attracted a small field of 40 players with the big names drawn including John Karichu of Limuru and Dennis Saikwa of Royal.
In the junior front, Kenya Railway Golf Club’s Kaash Padam clinched the Royal and Ancient(R&A) trophy for players aged between 17 and 18, in this year’s Kenya Junior Matchplay golf championship at the par 72 Sigona Golf Club course on Friday. Padam beat Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club’s Taimur Malik at the 19th hole following a closely contested match.
