Samuel Njoroge

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

A four-member team has been named to represent the country at the second edition of the Region IV golf tournament, formerly known as East Africa Challenge, set for June 5-8 in Bujumbura, Burundi.

Senior players Simon Njogu and Samuel Njoroge will team up with top juniors Zubair Khan and Mutahi Kibugu for the competition that will feature other teams from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia as they battle for the Region IV trophy.

The team was selected based on the current Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) ranking and Junior Order of Merit. The four golfers will be accompanied by new Kenya Golf Union chair Anthony Murage and the Tournament director Ben Omuodo.

“I have full confidence with the team which has been training for weeks under the leadership of coach John Van LiefLand. They are ready to wrestle the title from defending Champions Uganda,” said Omuodo.

The tournament’s formats of play will Stroke Play competition on day one, Foursomes and Singles on the second day with the same format repeated on day three.

Kenya hosted the inaugural Region IV tournament in Nyali last year.

Crown Paints Kenya Group CEO Rakesh Rao (Right) signs a dummy cheque of Ksh1m as he is joined by PrGK Chairman Charan Thethy (Left), professional golfers Nelson Mudanya (Second from left) and CJ Wangai

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

About 40 local professional golfers will tee off at the Muthaiga Golf Club on June 4 as the ‘Home of Golf’ hosts the first Crown Paints-sponsored invitational professional golf tourney.

The tournament, organized by Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) exclusively for pros is meant to aid in preparations for the 21 golfers set to take part in the Karen Masters golf tournament set for June 26 to 30 at Karen Country Club.

The Crown Paints tourney, sponsored to a tune of Sh 1 million, will be the penultimate event that the pros will use to prepare for the Masters which is running as part of the Sunshine Tour for the second year. A week later they will play in the final leg of the Road to Karen Masters’ at Royal Nairobi Golf Club on June 13-15.

“This tournament comes at a time when the pros need to take part in more competitions as part of their preparations so as to compete with the strong field expected at Karen for the Masters. We will be grateful to see a local win the tournament and all our golfers improving their performance in the competition and Crown Paints are helping towards that,” said PGK chair Charan Thethy during yesterday’s launch of the invitational golf tourney.

The top 20 golfers and ties make the cut after the first two days with the winner expected to walk home with Sh 150,000 as prize money.

“We are running the event in the same format that the Masters will be played in. The event is exclusively for the pro but we are not restricting it to the locals, we have invited golfers from Uganda and Tanzania just to stretch the field and we are hoping they will be able to participate,” added Thethy

This is the first time that Crown Paints Kenya is sponsoring a PGK event as the company has largely involved itself with junior golf.

“We have been supporting golf for close to ten years and in six of those we have concentrated on junior golf as that is where the future lies. However, we know the pros are in the limelight in most competitions and by helping them prepare we are giving them a chance to shine,” said Crown Paints CEO Rakesh Rao.