FINAL STRECH: Nyanza Club Captain Tobia See chips the ball in a past event.

By DISMAS ONYANGO

The century-old Royal Nairobi Golf Club is hosting the final leg of the Tusker Malt Golf Carnival today. A field of 220 players has been drawn in the four ballbetter ball format series.

TheCaptain Darshan Mistry says the key to highscores is to keep the ball in play and to be positive and confident around thegreens.  “The course is recovering well from a long dry spell.  Thefairways are running hence helping high handicaps to hit the ball further butconversely any errant drives will also tend to go further off line making thesecond shot tougher.  This also means that staying on the fairways paysdividends as lies in the rough can be pot luck.  The greens are recoveringfrom deep hollow tining and a recent further light top dressing,”adds Captain Mistry.

Amongthe single- figure handicappers are J. Kogo handicap 5, J. Sandu handicap 1 andQ. Bhatti handicap 5. The Captain says that from his draw he expects highscores. “Being a Four Ball Better BallCompetition, one expects the winners to score over 46 points. Hence it’stough to predict who will have a good chance.  It also depends on how theteams have combined; you need a combination of a low handicap as the anchor tosecure you pars as much as possible and a high handicapper who can takeadvantage of his strokes but needs to be on form ,” CaptainMistry adds.

The captain warns that there are subtle breaks in many greensespecially where the pin is mounted near the front which can cause havoc withputting.

TheTusker malt Golf series which kicked off at the Kenya Railway Golf Club onSeptember 22, 2011 aimed to give extensive and professional experience toamateur golfers and to the highest degree advance their expertise as golfers.The Carnivore has visited 13 golf courses all over the country and has seenover 2000 golfers participating.

Speakingon last weekend’s tournament at the Karen Country Club, Tusker BrandManager Wanyi Mwaura said that golf in Kenya needs to grow.

“Wedesire to make golf a popular game and boost the levels of professionalism inthe courses. We want to see more Kenyan pros in the international scene and seethem win and be recognized, Wanyi said.

TheGrand Finale of the Tusker Malt Carnival will be held in April 2011 at theMuthaiga Golf club. The top contenders for the top prize are looking forward tothe Muthaiga as the winners of the Tusker malt Golf Carnival are expected towin an overseas golf trip to South Africa. canada goose jacke herren canada goose jacke herren

MISSING IN ACTION: Pro golfer James Lorum relaxes near one of the Kigali Golf Club's greens in a past tournament. He has been excluded in the Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) 20-man list for this year's Kenya Open.

By CYNTHIA OMBATI

Nandi Bears professional James Lorum was one of the note able absentees when the Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) yesterday released a list of 20 local pros to represent the country at this year’s Kenya Open Golf tournament set to run between March 29 and April 1 at the par 71 Muthaiga Golf Club.

No local player has ever won the prestigious tournament since its inception and local fans will be having high expectations this year after watching the pros post impressive scores in recent tournaments.

The closest a Kenyan has come to clinching the tournament was in 1998 when Jacob Okelo tied with Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez, before losing in a sudden- death playoff, but PGK chairman Charan Thethy believes the locals are capable of a surprise this time noting that the players have come of age, thanks to a number of professional tournaments sprucing up.

Thethy said they used their criteria in selecting the team, where they gave priority to their order of merit, those who made the cut during last year and professionals who have been playing outside the country.

Former golfer of the year Sullivan Muthugia who turned professional last year as well as Railway’s Njuguna Ngugi were some of the surprise inclusion in the list.

“We used our order of merit to select the 20 players to play at the Kenya Open. We also gave consideration to the players who made the cut during last year’s tournament as well as those who play in tournaments outside the country like the Sunshine Tour, so I am confident we have a very strong side this time,” Charan said.

He said the Kenya Open Golf Limited were also planning to run a qualifier closer to the time of the open for those who have not made it on this list.

The cash prize of the tournament will remain Sh22.2 million (200, 000 Euros) and that the event will bring together a total of 150 players. nike air max blancas nike air max blancas