Tsevi Soni and Aana Mengi emerged the winners during the ninth leg of the Safaricom Golf Tour junior tournament held at the par 70 Kericho Golf Club course on Sunday.
Playing in the Boys’ 11 years category, Windsor club’s junior golfer Tsevi Soni, a grade 8 pupil at Premier Academy, produced an impressive 91 gross to lead his group and claim the overall best boy title. Aana Mengi, a grade 3 student at Montessori who celebrated her eighth birthday, emerged the best girl after posting 47 points ahead of Lynnet Zawadi in the under-8 years category.
“This is my first time to play in Kericho and my fourth time to participate in the Safaricom Golf Tour, which is a great platform for the juniors across the country. The course was quite tough compared to my home club Windsor, but I am glad I managed to play my long drives well, which enabled me to beat other young golfers and emerge the winner,” said Tsevi Soni.
Taking the lead in the 13 to 14 boys’ category for those who played a full round of 18 holes, was Graffin Kiplangat with a score of 123 points followed by Aaron Patel on 146. In the boys’ 15 and above category, Lucas Nyambogo, who was also named the overall best boy during the fourth leg juniors’ tournament in Nyanza, emerged the winner with a score of 91 gross.
Stacy Cherono emerged top in the girls’ 15 and above category beating her closest challenger Daivy Chelangat with 144 gross.
Claiming the girls’ 11-12 category title was Imani Njoki with gross 104 points ahead of Venessa Sharley who garnered 114 points. Winning the boys’ 12 category was Fabian Julias on 129, and in second place was Sertin Kibet on 151.
Meanwhile in the 9-hole tournament, 7 years old Jeff Kibe continued to dominate the 7 and under category after scoring 51 points to finish first ahead of Justus Wagura who finished second on 68 points.
The boys 10 years category went to Trevor Kiplangat on 63 points ahead of Jordan Kigen who garnered 67 points to take the second position in the category.
Earlier in the Saturday tournament, Dr. Kipkirui Langat beat a field of 128 golfers to emerge the overall winner of the ninth leg of the Safaricom Golf Tour held at the same facility. He had posted 40 stableford points in a fourball tournament courtesy of six pars and several bogies to claim the title ahead of his closest challenger, Erastus Orina, who finished second with 39 points.
The Kericho’ tournament saw 61 junior golfers from the region and its environs drawn to the tournament with 67 aspiring junior golfers showing up for the golf clinic that involved training at the facility.
The Safaricom Golf Series now moves to Western Region, at Kitale Golf Club on 11th June for its tenth leg. The tour has so far drawn over 4,800 golfers who have taken part in the tournaments, junior clinics and outreach programmes.
As part of growing Golf among the juniors in the country, Safaricom has partnered with Junior Golf Foundation to tap and nurture young talent in the golf sport. The juniors can register with Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) for KES.1,000 and have access to any golf club in the country to play Golf.