Dismas Indiza in previous action

By DANIELLA APIYO

Mumias long-hitting professional Dismas. Indiza and Thika Sports Club resident pro Simon Ngige ate among the 32 players selected to represent Kenya at the forthcoming KCB Karen Masters to be held at Karen Country Club from July 19-22.

While making the announcement Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) Captain CJ Wangai said the 32 were selected through a local qualifying system.

“It’s such a good opportunity for the Kenyan pros as we now have a chance of being ranked in the Sunshine Tour and securing possible invites for the players who will play well,, thanks to KCB for the unswerving golfing support” said Wangai.

“Standards have been set and only the sky is the limit for Team Kenya,” added Wangai.

Also in the Kenyan mix are former top amateur Alfred of Nandwa Railway,  Anil Shah of Royal Nairobi, Boniface Kosgey of Golf Park Resort and CJ Wangai who is the resident professional at Sigona, David Opati of Windsor Country & Golf Club better known as Par 3 due to his diminutive nature, Golf Park’s David Wakhu and veteran Elisha Kasuku of Royal Nairobi also make team.

Others include, Erick Ooko of Royal Nairobi,  Frank Matilo of Muthaiga, Ganeev Giddie of Muthaiga, Hesbon Kutwa Royal. and Jacob Okello  of Golf Park Resort . Okello is, by and large, the most decorated Kenyan professional after losing the Kenya Open title on sudden death in the 1998 edition.

Boniface Simwa from Eldoret Club and Albert Orende from Vet Lab also make the 32 man squad alongside Jeff Kubwa of Muthaiga, Joseph Karanja Golf Park Resort,  Justus Madoya of Green Park Resort,  Ken Abuto of Royal Nairobi,  Ken Bollo also of Royal Nairobi, Kevin Mabele from Kenya Air Force Golf Club, Kopan Timbe of Muthaiga,  Matthew Omondi of Vet Lab,  Mohit Mediratta  of Sigona also make the team.

Mediratta was one of the three Kenyans who made the cut at the recent Kenya Open.

Others representing Team Kenya will be Nelson Mudanyi  the resident pro at Muthaiga, Nelson Simwa of Vet Lab, Nyali resident pro Ngugi Njuguna, Richard Ainley of Nakuru,  Rizwan Charania of Windsor  Sujan of Sigona and Tony Omuli of Golf Park’.

The event will be curtain raised by the Pro-am on July 17 with tournament proper slated for July 19-22.

KGU chairman Lucas Maranga (right) and former chairman Richard Wanjala (left) at a past event. KGU named a team to represent the country at the Victoria Cup on Thursday.

By AMANDA DAMARIS

Just a day after Kenya Golf Union (KGU) released the names of golfers who will do duty at the third edition of the Victoria Cup set for July 25-28 at VetLab Sports Club, questions have been raised on the criteria the union used to come up with the ten names that were released.

Former captain Robinson Owiti is set to move to the Sports Dispute Tribunal (SDT) on Monday seeking heir intervention on the matter as he says that consultations with the Union management have not yielded any fruits as different officials have conflicting information on the same.

Initially KGU used the Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) tournament standings to select their teams and then proposed a qualifying tournament format which was not well received. For the Victoria Cup, a tournament was organized for the inaugural event while the KAGC standings were used in the edition’s selection.

“Golfers have asked for the criteria used but nothing is forthcoming. Traditionally, an announcement was made on when the team will be unveiled for any tournament but it was not the case for this edition. The naming has also been done too close to the tournament as opposed to a month or two to the said competition as is the norm,” said Owiti.

The golfer has also questioned how three golfers were handed wild cards at the expense of others who are ranked higher on the current KAGC standings after the Coronation Trophy.

Simon Njogu of Great Rift, Samuel Njoroge and John Lejirma of Railways and Owiti who plays for Vet Lab are ranked fourth to seventh

on the KAGC standings and would have made the team had that criteria been used. However in their place Dennis Saikwa, Paul Muchangi and Daniel Nduva ranked 8th to 10th have made the team.

In the union’s defence, tournament director Antony Murage explained that the KAGC standings were not used and a decision was reached to add the slots for juniors from two to three. Additionally only one wild card was given to disabled golfer Isaac Makhoha following a good golfing season.

“The other six slots were rightfully awarded to players who ranked high in the moving average. This criterion selects the top golfers from ten best average scores from the last 12 tournaments. As for the timing of the team naming, we had to wait for the Kenya Amateur match play to be over before compiling the team,” said Murage adding that the team is already in training and the union is confident they will perform well.