WILL HE BE SECOND TIME LUCKY: James Karanja receives the winners award after clinching the Mumias Sugar Golf event at Limuru Golf Club. He turned pro a month ago.

By DISMAS ONYANGO (Writer)

A total of 36 local professional golfers will be rubbing shoulders at the Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) Pro Am event to be held at the nine hole Railway Golf Club from Thursday to Saturday.

According to Charan Thethy, the immediate former PGK Chairman and the coordinator of the tournament, the three days event has been sponsored by friends of Kenya Railways Golf Club and Salmer Fitness Centre and that it was expected to act as a build up for the local pros ahead of February’s Kenya Open Golf Championships.

“The pros will be playing for a total of Ksh2 million with the overall winner set to walk away with Ksh400, 000. There is an appearance fee of Ksh10, 000 per player in addition to the prize money so no player would go away with nothing,” said Charania.

He added: “Tournament sponsors have also invited the top 10 amateurs going by the Golfer Of The Year rankings and they will play alongside the professionals.”

The event is expected to be an acid test for James Karanja who turned professional in style by winning the Mumias Golf Series tournament in his first event as a professional. Other players who will be in action are this season’s Order of Merit winner Nicholas Rokoine, Nelson Mudanyi who turned professional recently after returning from a golf course in United States of America and Dismas Indiza among others. maillot de foot pas cher maillot de foot pas cher

WELCOME HOME: National golf team captain David Opati (left) and Sigona’s Kush Mediratta pose with the East Africa Golf Challenge trophy upon their arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi from Bujumbura. Kenya retained the regional title.

By FIDEL ONO

National golf team captain David Opati predicts a brighter future for Kenya junior players after Kenya successfully retained the East Africa Golf Challenge tournament in Bujumbura, Burundi on Friday.

Speaking upon arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Saturday evening, the Golf Park’s player currently playing off handicap +3 lauded the effort displayed by the juniors who made part of the team and urged Kenya Golf Union (KGU) to invest more on juniors to maintain the success story.

“The juniors played very well in Bujumbura and I also have to recommend coach Charles Farrar for his training and strategies. It could look easy but winning the regional tournament did not come on a silver plate because Uganda and Tanzania offered us a very strong challenge and we had to strategize to overcome the challenge and retain the title,” said Opati.

He added: “It was good for KGU to involve the juniors in the tournament and they should do that more often in future to build the next crop of good golfers.”

Kenya which was represented by four senior players, the top four on the Golfer Of The Year standings and five junior players, won the four-day tournament securing the highest points (19) in the history of the regional tournament. Opati started Kenya’s charge when he beat Uganda’s Willy Kitata 1-up.

Uganda finished second with 13 points, half a point ahead of Tanzania, while Rwanda was fourth on 11.5 points and hosts Burundi finished last with 9.5 points.

Kenya will host next year’s event which will include DR Congo and South Sudan. canada goose femme pas cher canada goose femme pas cher