Jadiah Mwarania, the Managing Director, Kenya Reinsurance Corporation Ltd (Right) presents the overall winner award to Francis Wahome during the Kenya Re golf tournament at Karen Country Club on Saturday.

By AMANDA DAMARIS

Francis Wahome registered 42 points to emerge the overall winner of the Kenya Reinsurance Corporation bi-annual golf tournament at Karen Country Club at the weekend.

The event was designed to bring together Kenya Re’s stakeholders in a bid to foster positive relations. The well attended social event attracted participants from Kenya Re, industry players and partners who contended for various corporate golf prizes.

Liz Mbuthia won the Lady of the day prize with a score of 35 points while LLoyd Oito bagged the man’s prize with 39 points. The overall staff winner was Maina Mukoma with 22 points. H.S Jutley scooped the nearest to the pin title and Joe Muigai was awarded for the longest drive of the day.

George Kirathe and Mwanzo Moseti won first and second nines at 21 points each. Eric Rugo bagged the insurance industry winner prize with 42 points.

Kenya Re Managing Director, Mr. Jadiah Mwarania applauded the players’ performance requesting them to replicate the dedication and drive within their respective workplaces.

“Since inception, the Kenya Re tournament has increasingly attracted professional and amateur golfers drawn primarily from the insurance sector. The tournament hopes to encourage collaboration within the industry for overall growth,” said Mwarania.

He added: “Thank you for taking the time to participate in this year’s tournament. We applaud your competitive efforts on the golf course today along with the discipline and patience presented. I therefore take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners for their hard-earned victory. ”

He further added that sustaining business relationships is essential to the successful growth of any business.

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Aaron Rai, Barclays Kenya Open 2017 Winner, poses with his trophy.

By DANIELLA APIYO

Aaron Rai sealed an impressive and emotional victory at the Barclays Kenya Open, with his Kenya-born mother tearfully embracing her champion son on the 18th green at Muthaiga Golf Club in front of rapturous crowds.

The Englishman was adopted by the Nairobi faithful as one of their own this week and responded with some scintillating golf on the final day, making seven birdies in a round of 65 as his 17 under par total was three shots better than nearest rival Adrien Saddier.
The 22 year old narrowly missed out on a European Tour card last year when he finished 18th on the Road to Oman but, with victory at the European Challenge Tour’s season opener, he now tops the Rankings, albeit with 26 tournaments still to come.

Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta lauds Rai.

With President Uhuru Kenyatta arriving to watch the closing holes, Rai put on a presidential display of golf, applying early leaderboard pressure to his rivals with birdies on the second and third and barely putting a foot wrong all day.

That his victory fell on Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom only added to the emotions as both mother and son were in tears, and Rai revealed that this was the first time his mother had returned to the country of her birth since she left it in 1970.

“It feels amazing,” he said. “It couldn’t have been a better event to win, with it being Kenya, and with the support of all the Kenyan people as well. There’s a big Indian population here I think and it was amazing having my mum here.

Aaron Rai gets hugs and a kisses from his Kenyan born mother at his completion of the 18th hole.

“She was born here and this was the first time she’s come back to Kenya in the 47 years since she left so I couldn’t have picked a better tournament for this to happen.

“It’s been amazing to have her here. It was something that we planned a couple of months ago – she wanted to come last year but couldn’t unfortunately because of work commitments but I think she picked a good year, the way the week turned out.

“There were some butterflies throughout, and I guess a bit of that is natural, but I think we dealt with it all pretty well and I just feel very fortunate to have won this week.

“I just tried to stick to the same game plan I’ve had all week, it’s not really a good time to change anything on the fourth day, especially if you’ve got yourself into a good position, so I just tried to do the same things today as I had for the previous three days.

“I fortunately got off to a very good start and that definitely helped me just play my own game a little bit more and not worry too much about what anyone else was doing.

“I never felt it was mine until we were on the green on the last hole. You can never take anything for granted in this game until the last putt is made and you know it’s yours.

“It’s been an amazing week and something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

France’s Saddier, another nearly man on last year’s Road to Oman, closed his week with a birdie to seal outright second place, one shot ahead of Italian Francesco Laporta and England’s overnight leader Matt Wallace. nike air max junior nike air max junior