TICKETS FOR ATLANTA UP FOR GRABS AT THE DASANI GOLF GALA FINALE AT KAREN
By KGG CORRESPONDENT
After hosting 17 different qualification events around that country, hosting nearly 3,000 golfers from 38 different golf clubs, the Dasani Golf Gala 2011 edition comes to a close this weekend. The Grand Finale of what has been the most talked about golf championship this year will take place at the 18-hole par-72 Karen Country Club, one of the top championship golf courses in the region. At stake, a fully paid VIP trip for the winning team to the TOUR Championship, presented by Coca-Cola, at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the home of Coca-Cola.
According to the Coca-Cola Country Manager Kenya, Jorsen Patten, the 2011 championship was hugely successful. “This was the second season of the Dasani Golf Gala and it has grown in stature. In 2010, our Dasani winners went to South Africa for the Gary Player Invitational, hosted by Coca-Cola at the Fancourt Golf Resort,” Patten said. “This year, we have upped the bar, and for the first time in golf in this region, the winners will be going to the home of Coca-Cola in Atlanta to participate in the last event of the PGA Tour of America and one of the most prestigious events on the golf calendar in the USA, the TOUR Championship, presented by Coca-Cola.”
A total of 34 golf teams, made up of four golfers each, and representing the six Coca-Cola Bottling partners, will meet at Karen to compete for the top prize. “This weekend we are proud to have all our bottling partners in Kenya represented at the Karen weekend finale. Our bottlers will be taking time off from the pressures of business volumes to slug it out on the Karen tuff with golfing amateurs from across the country. We all look forward to an exciting, Dasani driven weekend of golf.”
Nairobi Bottlers will be represented by teams from Nairobi, Kiambu, Thika, Machakos and Nakuru, Mt. Kenya Bottlers will be represented by the team from Nyeri, Nanyuki and Nyahururu; Coastal Bottlers will be represented by three teams from Nyali,
Mombasa, Vipingo, Malindi and Leisure Lodge. Kisii, Rift Valley and Equator Bottlers will be represented by one team each to make up the more than 30 teams that will be at Karen this weekend.
The defending champions from the 2010 Dasani Golf Gala, the Rift Valley Bottlers team of Willie Samoei, Tim Alala, Ferej Ahmed and Michael Rotich did not make it to the 2012 Grand Finale, running out of hydration at the Eldoret Club and on the banks of the River Sosian! Speaking from Eldoret Samoei lamented the rainy weather that characterised the qualification round at Eldoret. “Our team, the dream team, was prepared to qualify for the Finals, unfortunately we got the worst of the rainy weather at Eldoret and failed to play well,” Samoei said. “We trust the teams that will now represent the Rift Valley Bottlers, the team from Nandi Bears and the team from Eldoret, will do well at Karen and win the trip to Atlanta.”
The four teams representing the Karen Country Club are expected to enjoy home ground advantage and they will start the contest as firm favourites. The Scott family led by Hugh and Hillary Scott and their boys James and Alistair, are expected to perform well on a golf course that they know well. Alistair, a respectable handicap-3 golfer, and probably one of the longest hitters on the continent, will come to the Finale with an agenda having performed poorly at the qualification stage. Hugh, playing off a solid handicap-6 and James, playing off handicap-4, will be looking to replicate the level-par golf they managed at the qualification round and mum Hillary, playing off handicap-13, will be looking to be the voice of reason for the family, playing conservative golf and scoring well.
The other Karen teams include the team of the Kenya Open Golf Limited Chairman Peter Kanyago, whose team-mates include former club chairmen Kingori Kariuki and Steve Waruhiu and John Muiruri, the team’s back-marker with a handicap of six.
The team of FG Kariuki, ST Nduati, Irungu Wanyoike and Joe Kihanya combines four single handicap golfers of repute. George Muturi, Ken Kubasu, Joe Muiga and Peter Waweru make up Karen’s fourth team.
Kenya’s home of golf, the Muthaiga Golf Club will be represented at the finale by four teams, including the team of Evans Vitisia, Seleste Kilinda, Abdul Viaini and Tony Githuku, the captain Steve Njukia whose team includes Chege Gitura, Don Maina and PI Munge. The Muthaiga team of Uday Rajani, Kumar Dhall, Rajesh Bhabra and Tanvir Sodi will combine skills and experience to score at Karen.
Dhall, a former Kenya international and Bhabra, a former Captain at Muthaiga are deeply talented golfers with the ability to score well at Karen.
Royal Nairobi Golf Club will field the all ladies team of Anne Mwalimo, Rajinder Jagdev, Sevendher Bhavra and Anastasia Chubi and the team of former KGU Chairman Daljit Bhavra, Jay Sandhu, Vijay Sandhu and Lally Pallan. Sigona’s teams to Karen will include the veteran team of Jimmy Ndederu, Ngigi Mondo, Karanja David and Chris Muraya.
The teams from Limuru will include the former Club Champion, Simon Mwangi, Njehi Mwangi, Robinson Njenga and Nick Nganga and the Gitau’s Peter, Florence, Erick and Samuel. Thika Sports Club will be led by Joe Thiga, David Karuma, Walsh Irungu and PN Gaitara whilst Vet Lab will be represented by Muchua Githiaka, Njani Nderitu, Edgar Kalya and Francis Mwangi.
The winning team at the Dasani Golf Gala Grand Finale, will leave the country on the 21st of September 2011 and enjoy the TOUR Championship week in Atlanta, the home of Coca-Cola. canada goose damen canada goose damen