The 10th leg of the Safaricom Golf Tour is concluding tomorrow with a caddie tournament. Meanwhile, today was just as impactful as all the other legs are concerned in terms of attendance and enthusiasm especially among the junior golfers and aspiring golfers. The Kitale tournament saw over 50 juniors participate, and 60 kids attend the golf clinic which is a part of every destination of the tour. The involvement of kids in these tours is solid ground for the future of the game because they become experts at an early age and will be able to take the baton from the senior golfers in the years to come.
Junior winners
8-year-old Aarna Mengi won overall girls and Peter Gathogo won overall boys in Kitale. Aarna, a grade 3 pupil at Montessori Schools also won overall best girl last weekend in Kericho with 42 points. She termed the Kericho win as a great birthday gift as she turned 8. The young golfer says that she lives the Safaricom golf clinics since they give young people a chance to come and experience golf.
Peter gathogo carded a gross of 76 points to take the best boy title. The 11 year old is a grade 6 student at Christ The King Academy in Nakuru.
The 13-14 years boys category win went to Keith Kyama from Uganda. Kyama carded 107 points and beat Lionel Tomno who posted 131 points and came in second. In the girl’s 13-14 category, Petra Fandi was named the winner after scoring 110 points.
It was a great day for the home junior golfers as they dominated the 11 years and 11-12 categories. 11-year-old Pius Gumo beat Diem Songo to claim the title on 116 gross, while Shirlyn Bungei scored 107 points to beat her challenger Charmaine Akiru on 114 points to win the girls’ 11-12 category title.
Taking the lead in the boys’ 15 and above category was Zaddock Kimutai from Nandi Bears on 91 points. Earlier on, in the Saturday’s tournament, the junior golfer had produced an impressive 40 points to win the Men’s Category.
In the girls’ 15 and above category, Rita Butita posted 112 points to lead her group in a very tight competition which saw Shelby Bungei finishing second after returning 113 gross.
Playing in the boys’ 10 years category, Adrian Kiptoo produced an impressive gross of 50 points to lead Gavril Jamar of Rayzon School, who finished second with 68 points. In the girls’ 8 and below category, Precious Zawadi scored 51 points to beat her closest challenger Clementa Bonareri on countback.
Meanwhile, in the boys’ 7 and below category, Axel Mwaura scored 47 points in a nine-hole tournament to lead Justus Kagongo with Collins Musa taking the top position in the boys’ 8-9 years category.
Ivan Cheruto beat Wendy Chemutai on countback to claim the girls 9-10 years category after the duo tied on 64 points.
Earlier, in the Saturday tournament, Kitale’s homebased and former club’s captain, Elly Sorobea beat a field of 133 participants to be named the overall winner of the tenth leg of the tour in a very colourful event held at the same facility.
The Kitale tournament saw 50 junior golfers from the region, its environs and as far as Uganda drawn to the tournament with 63 aspiring junior golfers showing up for the golf clinic.
The event culminates in the caddie’s tournament today, Monday 13th June. The caddie’s tournament speaks to what Safaricom set out to achieve at the onset of this series, which is to give all those interested in golf a chance to participate in the tournament. The caddie’s tournament has attracted over 150 participants from across the country.
The Safaricom Golf Tour is headed to Nakuru on 9th of July after a short break.