FROM RAILWAY TO ATLANTA WITH DASANI
By ENOCK NGOME
The team of Abbas Nasser, David Kigomo, Giginder Padam and John Wangai are the winners of the 2011 Dasani Golf Gala.
The team from the Railway Golf Club emerged victorious at the Dasani Golf Gala Grand Finale, held at the Karen Country Club, after amassing 116 team points, beating 34 other golf teams from golf clubs around the country. With this victory the team from Railway Golf Club will now travel as VIP guest of the Coca-Cola Company to the TOUR Championship, presentd by Coca-Cola, at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The hero of the winning team, and the best player on the day, handicap-22 Abbas Nasser, led from the front, scoring a massive 46 stable-ford points. Nasser, who has only been playing golf for 18-months now, made par on the opening par-four first hole, a relatively short par-four at the Karen Country Club. He followed this with a double bogey on the dog-leg right par-five second hole, before righting the ship on the par-four fourth with a well deserved par.
Nasser finished the first nine with 21 points. On the back nine, Nasser made five pars and four bogeys to finish with a huge 25 stable ford points and a total of 46 points. Speaking after his round, Nasser said he had Atlanta in his sights. “Ever since we qualified for the Grand Finale, I have been putting in extra hours on the practice range and today, that has paid off,” Nasser said. “I would like to thank Dasani for this wonderful opportunity to play golf in Atlanta and for the opportunity to mingle with golf’s biggest names; Atlanta, here we come!” Nasser dedicated his excellent round to his father who is currently ill. “My dad is not well at the moment and that was a challenge for me, this victory is for him.”
Padam, a fashion designer, playing off a handicap of 14, added 37 points to the team score and Kigomo contributed 33 points. Wangai, a one-handicap golfer and the golf administrator at Railway, was the team’s weakest link with 31 points.
“My team carried me today, I will buy them a case of Dasani water each in Atlanta,” Wangai said. “My father introduced me to golf at the Njoro Country Club when I was six years of age, I have enjoyed the game since then.” Congratulating the winners, the Coca-Cola GM for East Africa, Peter Njonjo, wished the winners a wonderful trip to Atlanta. “On behalf of the Coca-Cola company, I wish the winners a wonderful trip to Atlanta, the home of Coca-Cola,” Njonjo said. “I am sure you will enjoy the East Lake Golf Club and the visit to the World of Coca-Cola.”
The Sigona team of Kamal Sehni, Sunny Syan, RS Matharu and Ted Macharia finished second, just a single points shy of the tickets to Atlanta. Sehni and Syan both scored 39 points as Matharu added 37 points to take their team total to 115 points.
Macharia, a former KGU Secretary, was the teams weakest link with a commendable 32 points. The Nandi Bears team of John Anyonyi, Wycliffe Kamanga, Abraham Maichi and Maurice Wanjea finished third with 114 points. Kamanga led his team with an impressive 43 points, Wanjea added 39 points whilst Maichia contributed 38 points for a total of 114 points. For a long time through the day, these team looked sure of victory.
The best individual prize went to Chet Mukherjee, a handicap-19 golfer who scored a massive 43-points. Mukherjee’s partners unfortunately did not come to the party and the dream for Atlanta faded fast. Hanvit Shah from Sigona and Karen’s John Muiruri finished second and third respectively after scoring 40 points each. Karen’s John Musunga was the guest winner with 42 points beating Gilbert Maina to second place.
The Dasani Golf Gala Grand Finale marked the end of the 2011 series which included 18 events around the country, hosting over 2,500 golfers from 37 golf clubs in Kenya. The 2011 Dasani Golf Gala was widely acknowledged as the best golf championship among Kenya’s amatuer golfing fraternity.
The winning team of Nasser, Kigomo, Wangai and Padam will leave the country on the 20th of September for Atlanta, Georgia and for the TOUR Championship, presented by Coca-Cola at the East Lake Golf Club where they will be VIP guests of the Coca-Cola Company. cgparkaoutlet cgparkaoutlet