THUMBS UP: South AFrica's Michiel Bothma gives a thumbs up after sinking an eagle during last year's Kenya Open Golf Championships. He will be defending his title this year.

By CORRESPONDENT

South Africa’s Michiel Bothma will take inspiration from his cousin Branden Grace when he returns to defend his title in the Barclays Kenya Open this week.

Bothma claimed the title at Muthaiga Golf Club on the outskirts of Nairobi 12 months ago, edging out his younger cousin into tied third place, but it was Grace who went on to secure promotion to The European Tour at the end of the season – via the Qualifying School – and has taken it by storm, winning back-to-back titles in January.

A tied third place finish at the Joburg Open, the scene of 23 year old Grace’s first victory, gave Bothma a fine start to the year, so he returns to Kenya for his first Challenge Tour appearance of 2012 armed with confidence as well as great memories.

“I was ecstatic that week,” said the 39 year old, who finished 45th in the 2011 Challenge Tour Rankings. “It was a nice win. Kenya almost feels like home to me.  I have friends there and there are normally a lot of South Africans, so it felt very comfortable.

“You never know when your first win on any tour will come, and leading up to the event I really started playing well. I also worked very hard prior to it. Instead of taking a break, I didn’t stop from the year before.

“After the second day I really felt like I was hitting it well and I was going to win. It just felt like it was going to happen. After that week I thought it would be a great year, but it just didn’t happen.

“I’m thrilled for Branden. I’ve been telling him for almost a year that he’s way better than the Challenge Tour. He hits it better than most guys I see on The European Tour. I’m definitely expecting much bigger things from him in years to come.

“I’d love to join him on The European Tour next year. I feel I’ve got a good enough game to be there. For some people it happens later in life, and for others it happens early, so I’m going to keep plugging away and hopefully my day will come. If you push too hard, sometimes it doesn’t happen, so I just need to relax and enjoy it. As long as you work hard on it, the wheel will turn.”

Bothma believes his game is ideally suited to the par-71, 7,236-yards course at Muthaiga Golf Club, adding: “I like hitting wedges to greens, and the greens are pretty receptive. It’s a putting course. It’s not easy making putts, but somehow I just read the greens very well.

“I think that’s why it suits me because once you read the greens and make a lot of putts, the ball-striking doesn’t have to be all that great to make a good score. I see a lot of people struggling on the greens and not making putts, but they come easily to me.”

The Barclays Kenya Open is the third tournament – and third continent visited – of the 2012 Challenge Tour season, following the Gujurat Kensville Challenge in India and the Pacific Rubiales Colombia Classic.

The year’s first two champions, Germany’s Maximilian Kieffer and Englishman Phil Archer, will be in the field to contest the €190,000 prize fund, as will Chris Lloyd, who finished in the top ten in both events.

England’s Nick Dougherty will hope to continue his renaissance after finishing tied fourth on his Challenge Tour debut in Colombia, while Danish duo Morten Ørum Madsen and Andreas Hartø, who are fourth and fifth respectively in the Rankings, will be looking to build on their fine starts to the campaign. nike thea schwarz nike thea schwarz

WELL OUT: Hannah Rutenbar comes out of the bunker at the General Motors Golf Day.

By DISMAS ONYANGO

Mercy Njuguna from Kitale beat over 100 seasoned golfers to win the General Motors Golf day at her home club in Kitale on Saturday.

Playing off handicap 36, Mercy carded   43 pts to emerge overall winner carding 22 on the front nine and 14 on the back nine.

Mercy played two over par on the first hole and three over par on the second hole. She recovered with a par on the third hole, got a bogey on the fourth got an impressive par on the 5^th followed it up with one under par on the 6^th.

Two over par on the 7^th, dropped two shots on the 8^th and dropped a single shot on the 9^th to finish with 22 points.

At the back nine, she dropped two points on the 10^th, recovered with a level par on the 11^th. Dropped two shots on the 12^th, dropped a single shot on the 13^th dropped two more shots on the 14^th, dropped a single shot each on the 15^th and 16^th dropped two shots on the 17^th and got a solitary point on the 19^th to finish with 21points on the back nine.

“The course was tough, but I played my level best, the greens were very fast and the fairways were not very windy” said an elated Mercy Njuguna after she received she overall trophy from General Motors.

Mike Arusei playing off handicap 15 was a distant second with 37 points playing 20 and 14 on the nines respectively.

Bhavi Shah with 36 points was overall third combining 17 and 13 followed by Elly Sorobea 36    points; Cherry Dale 36 points overall Fifth.

Francis Gitau 35 points, Elisha Mwei 35 points and Zipporah Kittony 34 points were 6^th17th and 8th respectively.

General Motors East Africa in conjunction with Central Farmers Garage promised to continue sponsoring the event. air max air max