EYEING FINALE: Jatinder Thethy follows his tee shot during the weekend event at Royal Club.

By DISMAS ONYANGO

The final qualification round in the Tusker Malt Golf Carnival Championship was held at Kenya’s oldest golf club, the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, this past weekend, and with it, the final five teams into the Tusker Malt Golf Carnival Grand Finale were unveiled.

With a huge field of over 230 golfers participating, this final qualification round was understandably hotly contested; and with daytime temperatures on the golf course reaching a high of 31-degrees and a strong northwesterly breeze blowing for most of the afternoon, victory was a sweaty affair! In the end, the all-lady team of Madhu Sharma and Fridah Shiroya, playing off handicaps of 30 and 14 respectively posted hot-scores of 25 points on each nine for a total of 50 stable points, a new high on the Tusker Malt Golf Carnival. The pair made net-par through the first two holes and followed this with net-bogey from the par-four third through to the par-three sixth. On the long par-five seventh and the equally long par-four ninth, Shiroya made use of her long driving skills to reach the green on regulation and made par. At the par-three eighth, one of the hardest short holes at Royal, the pair just managed to make bogey. On the back nine, the pair failed to make par through to the 14^th hole, however on the par-five 15^th, Shiroya once more found the green on regulation and an easy par was the result. The pairs only poor score was on the par-four 16^th where they both made double bogey. On the par-three 17^th, Sharma narrowly missed birdie and on the final hole, the 18^th and with a huge gallery watching from the clubhouse, Sharma drained a 21-foot putt for bogey to complete what was a truly brilliant round.

Commenting after their round, seasoned sports administrator and now Tusker Malt Golf Carnival victor, Fridah Shiroya, said the golf course was extra tough in the hot conditions. “This was a tough round of golf, the lies on the fairway were tight, the wind was unpredictable and the heat was rather suffocating,” Shiroya said. “Thankfully, we combined well with Sharma and where I failed to perform well, she came to the rescue and vice versa, that is the power of team partnerships.”  The Tusker Malt Golf Carnival is being played in the four ball better ball format.

The team of Joyce Ndirangu and Josiah Kogo, playing of handicaps of 29 and five respectively, huffed and puffed their way round the golf course, enduring the afternoon heat and their excellent score of 46 points secured second place beating the pair of Jonathan Chege and Gian Badhan on count-back. The team of Jayantil Hindocha and Beatrice Kamau finished in fourth place with 45 points beating the team of Kunal Shah and Mukesh Shah on countback. The guest winners were Lloyd Weru and Tirus Muithiga with 45 points.

The Tusker Malt Golf Carnival now moves to the Muthaiga Golf Club for the Grand Finale on the 14^th of April 2012. Winners of the Carnival will win an expense paid golf trip to a destination yet to be unveiled. canada goose damen canada goose damen

FINAL STRECH: Nyanza Club Captain Tobia See chips the ball in a past event.

By DISMAS ONYANGO

The century-old Royal Nairobi Golf Club is hosting the final leg of the Tusker Malt Golf Carnival today. A field of 220 players has been drawn in the four ballbetter ball format series.

TheCaptain Darshan Mistry says the key to highscores is to keep the ball in play and to be positive and confident around thegreens.  “The course is recovering well from a long dry spell.  Thefairways are running hence helping high handicaps to hit the ball further butconversely any errant drives will also tend to go further off line making thesecond shot tougher.  This also means that staying on the fairways paysdividends as lies in the rough can be pot luck.  The greens are recoveringfrom deep hollow tining and a recent further light top dressing,”adds Captain Mistry.

Amongthe single- figure handicappers are J. Kogo handicap 5, J. Sandu handicap 1 andQ. Bhatti handicap 5. The Captain says that from his draw he expects highscores. “Being a Four Ball Better BallCompetition, one expects the winners to score over 46 points. Hence it’stough to predict who will have a good chance.  It also depends on how theteams have combined; you need a combination of a low handicap as the anchor tosecure you pars as much as possible and a high handicapper who can takeadvantage of his strokes but needs to be on form ,” CaptainMistry adds.

The captain warns that there are subtle breaks in many greensespecially where the pin is mounted near the front which can cause havoc withputting.

TheTusker malt Golf series which kicked off at the Kenya Railway Golf Club onSeptember 22, 2011 aimed to give extensive and professional experience toamateur golfers and to the highest degree advance their expertise as golfers.The Carnivore has visited 13 golf courses all over the country and has seenover 2000 golfers participating.

Speakingon last weekend’s tournament at the Karen Country Club, Tusker BrandManager Wanyi Mwaura said that golf in Kenya needs to grow.

“Wedesire to make golf a popular game and boost the levels of professionalism inthe courses. We want to see more Kenyan pros in the international scene and seethem win and be recognized, Wanyi said.

TheGrand Finale of the Tusker Malt Carnival will be held in April 2011 at theMuthaiga Golf club. The top contenders for the top prize are looking forward tothe Muthaiga as the winners of the Tusker malt Golf Carnival are expected towin an overseas golf trip to South Africa. canada goose jacke herren canada goose jacke herren