REUBEN LANGAT SET TO REPRESENT KENYA AT THE TURKISH AIRLINES TOUR IN ANTALYA
Mustafa Ozkahraman, the General Manger of Turkish Airlines Nairobi (left) presents the winners trophy to Reuben Langat.
By AMANDA DAMARIS
Reuben Langat of Kericho has intensified his training ahead of the forthcoming Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup grand finale to be held in the Mediterranean city of Antalya, Turkey in late October.
Langat who emerged the victor during the event’s Nairobi qualifiers at Windsor on July 27 is at the moment putting final touches to his preparation ahead of the grand finale which returns to Belek for the umpteenth time.
He is leaving nothing to chance as he prepares to carry the country’s flag up against several other qualifiers from various Turkish Airlines destinations .
“The essence for now is to improve some facets of my long and short game,” said Langat.
“Over the past few days since qualification I have been working hard to perfect my swing and I’m glad it’s closer to where I want it to be. I’m putting well at the moment which is good for my short game. The game plan for Turkey will be to keep the ball on the fairways and putt well on the greens..”
Mustafa Ozkahraman, the General Manger of Turkish Airlines Nairobi said: “We would like to offer our congratulations to everyone who made the Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup qualifier in Nairobi such a special occasion. It was a fantastic tournament and well done to our winner Reuben Langat. They still have so much to play for in Antalya but everyone else will be looking forward to see him come back with the coveted trophy,. As Turkish Airlines we are committed towards golf tourism promotion which is a major global industry. We are proud to be associated with the Turkish Airlines Open which is a round of the European Tour and the Turkish Airlines Challenge which is a challenge tour event.”
The sixth staging of the Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup Amateur series -one of the the globe’s biggest corporate amateur tournament -touched down for the first time in Nairobi last year on July 27.
The second edition saw Langat fire 40 stableford points to beat home golfer Ravi Gandhi and Zamin Nasser to second and third respectively on countback at the Windsor course on July 27.
“In fact the win came as a pleasant surprise to me because all I knew when I played 40 I thought the winner would be in a range of 42 to 44. I would like to be associated with the Turkish Airlines anytime, any day for their unswerving support in golf tourism.”
Last year, Moses Kiragu won the Kenyan qualifiers at Muthaiga and was ranked 14th with 64 points out of 110 players who traveled from various Turkish Airlines destinations to Antalya.
“It was a very good experience. The exposure was beyond my expectations. I met people from all walks of life.”
The 2017 TAWGC concluded in spectacular style with the flagship Grand Final, hosted at the Titanic Deluxe Golf Hotel, Belek between Saturday 30th October and Wednesday 2nd November.
London’s Luke Eustace was crowned Champion after the two-round Grand Final at Titanic Golf Club, which was a tightly-contested affair with only 3 points separating the top 5. In the final round, the Englishman built on an impressive first round of 40 stableford points with a further 41 points, for a combined total of 73 points to claim the top prize by two points from Cape Town’s Warren Espey (40+39, 79).
The Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup Amateur Series became the widest reaching in corporate golf in 2017 with almost 8,000 participants contesting a 100-event Qualifying Series, which took place in 60 countries worldwide.
For the Grand Finale winners, a once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in the Pro-Am of the Turkish Airlines Open awaits. Over previous years, Finalists have partnered among others, Henrik Stenson, Martin Kaymer, Victor Dubuisson, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and 14-time Major Champion Tiger Woods in the pre-tournament Pro-Am.