HOW KEN NDEGE REIGNED SUPREME TO WIN DIANI LEG OF THE NCBA GOLF SERIES
Ken Ndege (right) winner of the Leisure Lodge Golf Resort leg of the NCBA Golf series receives his trophy from NCBA Group’s Director of Retail Banking, Tirus Mwithiga on Saturday.
By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS
Leisure Lodge Golf Resort’s Ken Ndege carded a round of 38 points to claim the overall win of his home club’s leg of the ongoing NCBA Golf Series on Saturday.
He finished the day three points better than fellow club mate, Toni Venturini, who carded a round of 35 points to claims the winner’s position in the men’s category ahead of Sven Kampa who ended the round with 34 points.
The margins were close as well in the ladies’ category which was won by Kerry Venturini after she carded 34 points ahead of Caroline Mokaya who carded 32 points on the day.
Meanwhile, Solomon Atsiaya from Vet Lab claimed the front nine trophy having carded 18 points, while Leisure Lodge’s George Mokaya claimed the bragging rights in the back nine with 19 points.
Among the guests, Gurbux Sighn from Nyali was crowned the winner with 34 points, as NCBA’s Group Director for Retail Banking, Tirus Mwithiga, emerged best among the bank’s staff.
In the best high handicap category, Leisure’s Lukas Kampa emerged the winner with 39 points. Arnold Kipkoti took the trophy in the Longest Drive contest for men with 215 metres as Caroline Mokaya claimed her second trophy of the day having won the women’s longest drive contest with 181 metres.
Nyali’s Gurbux Sighn collected a second trophy after he won in the nearest-to-the-pin challenge.
The Leisure Lodge event was the 17th on the 2021 NCBA Golf Series which attracted the participation of 100 golfers. This now takes to over 2,300 golfers who have taken part in the Series since its inception in January this year.
Among these events was a two-day junior golf tournament that was held in August at the Karen Country Club which saw 43 junior golfers qualify to play at the Rome Classic tournament this month and at the Big Five tournament in South Africa next year.
Speaking on the side-lines of the Leisure Lodge event, NCBA Group Head of Corporate Banking, Charles Omondi, said the Series has helped create an engagement and interaction platform for the bank, adding that the series finale in Karen later in December should offer a great golfing spectacle.
“I think the first few holes were quite good but things became a bit hectic in terms of getting the swings right, missing pars here and there but, all in all, it was a lovely round. I got to play with people whom I had never met, so we enjoyed the conversation on the course.
“We have seen our customers in every club enjoying the spirit of golf. For NCBA, the Series gives us that opportunity to interact with our customers where they are. These events lead to the grand finale which will be held at the end of the year in Karen. Everyone playing right now is doing so, for a chance to play at the grand finale because it is going to be exciting and, in every way, representative of the NCBA brand.”
So far, 80 players have qualified to play at the series finale by virtual of qualifying in the top five of each seniors’ leg of the Series. The 80 include two juniors aged 11 and 12 who won at the Limuru and Karen legs respectively.
Attention now shifts to the Railways Golf Club for the 18th event in the Series Calendar.