By ENOCK NGOME

The team of Abbas Nasser, David Kigomo, Giginder Padam and John Wangai are the winners of the 2011 Dasani Golf Gala.

The team from the Railway Golf Club emerged victorious at the Dasani Golf Gala Grand Finale, held at the Karen Country Club, after amassing 116 team points, beating 34 other golf teams from golf clubs around the country. With this victory the team from Railway Golf Club will now travel as VIP guest of the Coca-Cola Company to the TOUR Championship, presentd by Coca-Cola, at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

The hero of the winning team, and the best player on the day, handicap-22 Abbas Nasser, led from the front, scoring a massive 46 stable-ford points. Nasser, who has only been playing golf for 18-months now, made par on the opening par-four first hole, a relatively short par-four at the Karen Country Club. He followed this with a double bogey on the dog-leg right par-five second hole, before righting the ship on the par-four fourth with a well deserved par.

Nasser finished the first nine with 21 points. On the back nine, Nasser made five pars and four bogeys to finish with a huge 25 stable ford points and a total of 46 points. Speaking after his round, Nasser said he had Atlanta in his sights. “Ever since we qualified for the Grand Finale, I have been putting in extra hours on the practice range and today, that has paid off,” Nasser said. “I would like to thank Dasani for this wonderful opportunity to play golf in Atlanta and for the opportunity to mingle with golf’s biggest names; Atlanta, here we come!” Nasser dedicated his excellent round to his father who is currently ill. “My dad is not well at the moment and that was a challenge for me, this victory is for him.”

Padam, a fashion designer, playing off a handicap of 14, added 37 points to the team score and Kigomo contributed 33 points. Wangai, a one-handicap golfer and the golf administrator at Railway, was the team’s weakest link with 31 points.

“My team carried me today, I will buy them a case of Dasani water each in Atlanta,” Wangai said. “My father introduced me to golf at the Njoro Country Club when I was six years of age, I have enjoyed the game since then.” Congratulating the winners, the Coca-Cola GM for East Africa, Peter Njonjo, wished the winners a wonderful trip to Atlanta. “On behalf of the Coca-Cola company, I wish the winners a wonderful trip to Atlanta, the home of Coca-Cola,” Njonjo said. “I am sure you will enjoy the East Lake Golf Club and the visit to the World of Coca-Cola.”

The Sigona team of Kamal Sehni, Sunny Syan, RS Matharu and Ted Macharia finished second, just a single points shy of the tickets to Atlanta. Sehni and Syan both scored 39 points as Matharu added 37 points to take their team total to 115 points.

Macharia, a former KGU Secretary, was the teams weakest link with a commendable 32 points. The Nandi Bears team of John Anyonyi, Wycliffe Kamanga, Abraham Maichi and Maurice Wanjea finished third with 114 points. Kamanga led his team with an impressive 43 points, Wanjea added 39 points whilst Maichia contributed 38 points for a total of 114 points. For a long time through the day, these team looked sure of victory.

The best individual prize went to Chet Mukherjee, a handicap-19 golfer who scored a massive 43-points. Mukherjee’s partners unfortunately did not come to the party and the dream for Atlanta faded fast. Hanvit Shah from Sigona and Karen’s John Muiruri finished second and third respectively after scoring 40 points each. Karen’s John Musunga was the guest winner with 42 points beating Gilbert Maina to second place.

The Dasani Golf Gala Grand Finale marked the end of the 2011 series which included 18 events around the country, hosting over 2,500 golfers from 37 golf clubs in Kenya. The 2011 Dasani Golf Gala was widely acknowledged as the best golf championship among Kenya’s amatuer golfing fraternity.

The winning team of Nasser, Kigomo, Wangai and Padam will leave the country on the 20th of September for Atlanta, Georgia and for the TOUR Championship, presented by Coca-Cola at the East Lake Golf Club where they will be VIP guests of the Coca-Cola Company. cgparkaoutlet cgparkaoutlet

By KGG CORRESPONDENT

After hosting 17 different qualification events around that country, hosting nearly 3,000 golfers from 38 different golf clubs, the Dasani Golf Gala 2011 edition comes to a close this weekend. The Grand Finale of what has been the most talked about golf championship this year will take place at the 18-hole par-72 Karen Country Club, one of the top championship golf courses in the region. At stake, a fully paid VIP trip for the winning team to the TOUR Championship, presented by Coca-Cola, at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the home of Coca-Cola.

According to the Coca-Cola Country Manager Kenya, Jorsen Patten, the 2011 championship was hugely successful. “This was the second season of the Dasani Golf Gala and it has grown in stature. In 2010, our Dasani winners went to South Africa for the Gary Player Invitational, hosted by Coca-Cola at the Fancourt Golf Resort,” Patten said. “This year, we have upped the bar, and for the first time in golf in this region, the winners will be going to the home of Coca-Cola in Atlanta to participate in the last event of the PGA Tour of America and one of the most prestigious events on the golf calendar in the USA, the TOUR Championship, presented by Coca-Cola.”

A total of 34 golf teams, made up of four golfers each, and representing the six Coca-Cola Bottling partners, will meet at Karen to compete for the top prize. “This weekend we are proud to have all our bottling partners in Kenya represented at the Karen weekend finale. Our bottlers will be taking time off from the pressures of business volumes to slug it out on the Karen tuff with golfing amateurs from across the country. We all look forward to an exciting, Dasani driven weekend of golf.”

Nairobi Bottlers will be represented by teams from Nairobi, Kiambu, Thika, Machakos and Nakuru, Mt. Kenya Bottlers will be represented by the team from Nyeri, Nanyuki and Nyahururu; Coastal Bottlers will be represented by three teams from Nyali,
Mombasa, Vipingo, Malindi and Leisure Lodge. Kisii, Rift Valley and Equator Bottlers will be represented by one team each to make up the more than 30 teams that will be at Karen this weekend.

The defending champions from the 2010 Dasani Golf Gala, the Rift Valley Bottlers team of Willie Samoei, Tim Alala, Ferej Ahmed and Michael Rotich did not make it to the 2012 Grand Finale, running out of hydration at the Eldoret Club and on the banks of the River Sosian! Speaking from Eldoret Samoei lamented the rainy weather that characterised the qualification round at Eldoret. “Our team, the dream team, was prepared to qualify for the Finals, unfortunately we got the worst of the rainy weather at Eldoret and failed to play well,” Samoei said. “We trust the teams that will now represent the Rift Valley Bottlers, the team from Nandi Bears and the team from Eldoret, will do well at Karen and win the trip to Atlanta.”

The four teams representing the Karen Country Club are expected to enjoy home ground advantage and they will start the contest as firm favourites. The Scott family led by Hugh and Hillary Scott and their boys James and Alistair, are expected to perform well on a golf course that they know well. Alistair, a respectable handicap-3 golfer, and probably one of the longest hitters on the continent, will come to the Finale with an agenda having performed poorly at the qualification stage. Hugh, playing off a solid handicap-6 and James, playing off handicap-4, will be looking to replicate the level-par golf they managed at the qualification round and mum Hillary, playing off handicap-13, will be looking to be the voice of reason for the family, playing conservative golf and scoring well.

The other Karen teams include the team of the Kenya Open Golf Limited Chairman Peter Kanyago, whose team-mates include former club chairmen Kingori Kariuki and Steve Waruhiu and John Muiruri, the team’s back-marker with a handicap of six.
The team of FG Kariuki, ST Nduati, Irungu Wanyoike and Joe Kihanya combines four single handicap golfers of repute. George Muturi, Ken Kubasu, Joe Muiga and Peter Waweru make up Karen’s fourth team.

Kenya’s home of golf, the Muthaiga Golf Club will be represented at the finale by four teams, including the team of Evans Vitisia, Seleste Kilinda, Abdul Viaini and Tony Githuku, the captain Steve Njukia whose team includes Chege Gitura, Don Maina and PI Munge. The Muthaiga team of Uday Rajani, Kumar Dhall, Rajesh Bhabra and Tanvir Sodi will combine skills and experience to score at Karen.
Dhall, a former Kenya international and Bhabra, a former Captain at Muthaiga are deeply talented golfers with the ability to score well at Karen.

Royal Nairobi Golf Club will field the all ladies team of Anne Mwalimo, Rajinder Jagdev, Sevendher Bhavra and Anastasia Chubi and the team of former KGU Chairman Daljit Bhavra, Jay Sandhu, Vijay Sandhu and Lally Pallan. Sigona’s teams to Karen will include the veteran team of Jimmy Ndederu, Ngigi Mondo, Karanja David and Chris Muraya.

The teams from Limuru will include the former Club Champion, Simon Mwangi, Njehi Mwangi, Robinson Njenga and Nick Nganga and the Gitau’s Peter, Florence, Erick and Samuel. Thika Sports Club will be led by Joe Thiga, David Karuma, Walsh Irungu and PN Gaitara whilst Vet Lab will be represented by Muchua Githiaka, Njani Nderitu, Edgar Kalya and Francis Mwangi.

The winning team at the Dasani Golf Gala Grand Finale, will leave the country on the 21^st of September 2011 and enjoy the TOUR Championship week in Atlanta, the home of Coca-Cola. canada goose damen canada goose damen