AHF Kenya chairman Amb Stephen Ndungu Karau chips the ball at a past AHF Chairman Golf Challenge.

By AMANDA DAMARIS

Over 200 amateur golfers will converge at the par 71 Muthaiga Golf Club course on Saturday for the third edition of the annual AHF Chairman’s Golf Challenge.

The event has attracted leading players including member golfers, ladies, staff players, guests and juniors.

The events has for the past few years been held at Kiambu Golf Club and will be gracing the Muthaiga greens and fairways for the first time.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Kenya who are celebrating their 10th anniversary in Kenya this year are hoping to make the event bigger and better over the next few years.

“We are overly excited to grace the ‘home of golf’ in Muthaiga and this is one of the concepts we have had over the years as part of the strategies of engaging industry captains in HIV interventions including highlighting avenues for Public Private partnerships. The AHF Kenya Chairman’s tourney seeks to leverage on sports to reach out to the high end Kenyans, captains of industry and senior government officials with a message of HIV/AIDS. After years at Kiambu we are finally at the home of golf and hope to visit several other courses countrywide. Standards have been set for the event and only the sky’s the limit,” said AHF Kenya Chairman Amb. (Dr) Stephen Karau.

AHF deals with HIV prevention, treatment and advocacy. They conduct free HIV testing, provide free condoms and treatment to all Kenyans. They current operate in nine counties, Nairobi, Makueni, Mombasa, Kilifi, Homa Bay, Kisii, Kwale, Muranga and Turkana serving more than 51,000 clients in the HIV care and treatment program.

During the tournament health wellness services including Blood sugar, Body Mass Index (BMI) as well as HIV Testing will be offered at the club, Muthaiga Police station and Mathare area.

Among those going for the staff prize are the chairman Dr Amb Stephen Ndungu Karau, Dr Wamae Maranga and Samuel Kinyanjui who is the country director.

Also listed to play from the first tee Furrer S., Okeyo AO, Farrar D, Gondi P and Shah Chandu.

From the 10^th tee will be Mugo N, Gakiria G, Murage L, Gaita D, Icharia M, Njau R, Mwangi CG and Mokaya P among others.

Golf Park’s David Wakhu poses with the Safari Tour Golf Series trophy at the Nyali Golf Club.

By DANIELLA APIYO

David Wakhu, from Golf Park, returned a sizzling score of 6-under par 65 on the fourth and final round of the Safari Tour championship at the Nyali Golf and Country Club to win the championship by three-strokes and claim the top prize of Sh150,000.

Wakhu started his campaign at Nyali with a less than impressive score of 6-over par 77 through his first round; he made amends in Round-2 finishing on 1-over 72 and went two better in Round-3 with a 1-under score of 70. At this point, Wakhu was tied in third place, seven strokes behind Dismas Indiza.

On the fourth and final round, Wakhu scored an eagle on the opening hole, he followed this with 3-consequtive pars from the second to fourth holes before picking up another birdie on the par-5 fifth and on the par-4 ninth. Wakhu’s only bogey came on the par-4 seventh for a total of 3-under on the opening nine. On the back nine, Wakhu made birdie on the 10^th and 11^th holes, put together five pars through to the 16^th hole, made birdie on the 17^th and par on the 18^th for a score of 3-under par on the back nine and 6-under par, 65 for the round. His tournament total of 284, level par was enough for a comfortable 3-shot lead over Indiza.

Wakhu’s final round score of 6-under equals the Nyali Golf and Country Club Professional record.

Kenya Open Golf Limited Chairman Peter Kanyago (left) hands a dummy cheque to the inagural Safari Tour golf series winner David Wakhu at the Nyali Golf Club today.

Speaking after his round Wakhu said he was focused on playing well. “My aim today was to play well and not necessarily win. I started the day too far behind Dismas (Indiza) and my thoughts were not on catching him, they were on bettering my score,” he said. “This week we have played under excellent tournament conditions and I believe that the Safari Tour will help Kenyan professional golfers prepare for the Kenya Open in 2019.”

Indiza had a rough day in the office through the fourth round, finishing with a 4-over par score of 75 for a 287-tournament total. Indiza only managed two birdies on the 1^st and 11^th holes and dropped shots on the 6^th, 9^th, 15^th, 17^th and double bogey on the par-4 7^th.

“It wasn’t my day, I couldn’t keep my drives on the fairway, I couldn’t hit my mid-irons with precision, it was a tough day,” Indiza said. “Congratulations to Wakhu for winning, he played very well and deserves the victory.”

For his efforts Indiza banked Sh100,000. Riz Charania and Eric Ooko finished tied in third playce with scores of 288 and collected Sh77,500 each.

The Safari Tour now moves to the Vet Lab Sports Club from the 1^st of September where the Professionals will compete for another total prize fund of Sh1m.