By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Bill Kalya and Edward Keter of Kericho Golf Club played a combined score of 47 stableford points to emerge the overall champions of the International Pairs qualifying event held at Muthaiga Golf Club at the weekend. Kalya playing off handicap 10 and Keter handicap 19 showed a concerted effort as they both made equal contributions to the overall team score.  Kalya capitalized on the Par 3s getting at least 2 points in 4 out of the 5 holes and an eagle on par 5 no. 7 secured 4 points for the duo. Keter on the other hand came to the rescue on the longer holes and maximized on the 19 handicap strokes getting the much needed 3 points in 3 holes and 4 points in the par 4 no. 8.

The home-players, Josiah Mwaniki and Patrick Mbagaya finished as runner ups with 44 points after beating Erick Mutai & Julius Rono, Fredrick Wagura & Rebecca Njui and James Kamenchu & George Mburu on countback. Mutai and Rono are seeking another ticket to Portugal having being part of the 4 pairs that travelled to La Cala Hotel & Golf Resort, Spain on 14-18 November 2022 for the 2022 World Finals. This year’s finals will be held at the Royal Obidos Spa & Golf Resort and Bom Sucesso Resort, Portugal between 6^th-10^th November 2023.

The Kenya Golf Union Executive, Ndiga Kithae, speaking on behalf of the KGU Chairman-Philip Ochola, appreciated Muthaiga Golf Club for hosting the tournament and informed the members of the value gained in the participating in the series. “Portugal has more than 30 golf estates and this opportunity presents a chance to our players to experience and learn from the country.” Ndiga further urged the members preset to introduce friends and juniors to golf and to continue supporting the initiatives of the union.

The 5 pairs all got tickets to the Kenya Grand Finale to be held on 1^st September 2023. The top 3 pairs in the Grand Finale qualify for the fully funded golf trip to Portugal.  The event at Muthaiga is the first of 7 club qualifying events that will be held in different regions of the country. The second event will be held on 15^th July 2023 at Nyahururu Sports Club followed by 22^nd July 2023 at Kericho Golf Club. Mixed pairs are allowed in the competition where the best stableford points calculated off 85% handicap allowance are picked for the team per hole and summed up to arrive at the team score. All golfers who are 18 years and above and have a valid WHS handicap index are eligible to play.

Kenya has participated in the International Pairs in the years 2019, 2021 and 2022 with a break in 2020 due to the Corona Pandemic. Since the start of the series in 2019, 7 pairs have participated in the fully paid trip to the World Grand Finale. Mike Karanga & Steve Kiaro, James Kamenchu & Anthony Murage and Bhamra Bilu & Romy Sandhu participated in the finals in 2019 at Penina Golf Resort, Portugal. In 2022, Saawan Shah & Jay Varia, Chand Shah & Kush Shah, Julius Rono & Eric Mutai and Steve Kiaro & David Gitao participated in the finals at La Cala Golf Resort, Spain. The pair of Chand Shah & Kush Shah finished as runner ups in the World Finals just one point from the winners from Namibia-Johannes Damon and Hylton Villet.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 10th, 2023 at 7:05 AM and is filed under Golf News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.