Nathan Kalumbu tees off at Windsor Golf and Country Club

By KGG CORRESPONDENT

Windsor’s  Humphrey Maina fired on all cylinders to lead his team to victory at the Dasani Golf Gala Championship held at the Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club.

The handicap-16 golfer, anchored the team of Mike Macharia, Mike Njau and Macaria Muotia to victory with a team total of 119 points. Maina opened his scoring with an impressive three-over gross score of 23 stable ford points on the front nine and following this up with a five-over gross score of 21 points on the back nine for an incredible total of 44 points. Speaking after his round, Maina said this was his best round in many years.

“My golf has been a little bit erratic, but today, it all came together and I was able to play very well,” Maina said. “This is definitely one of my best rounds in recent times and I could not have asked for it to come at a better time – the Dasani Golf Gala is the country’s top golf event and now that our team has qualified for the Grand Finale, I trust my swing will stay put!”

Muotia, a handicap-12 golfer contributed 39 points to the winning teams tally whilst Njau played 8-over gross for 36 points. Macharia, a former manager at Windsor could only manage 29 points and was duly named the team’s weakest link. Commenting on his new found status, Macharia promised to do better at the Grand Finale.

“I am saving my best for last! Today I was completely off color but come the Grand Finale, it is I who shall carry out team to victory and on to Atlanta,” Macharia said. “This is why the Dasani GolfGala is unique, despite my poor show here today, I will still get an opportunity to compete at the finals thanks to my team-mates good performance.”

The runner up team comprised of Reguindin Henry, Dinesh Shah, Charles Slater and Jeff Litzke. Litzke was the team’s anchor with 44 points, Henry contributed 37 points and Slater added 33 points for a team total of 114 points. Shah was the team’s weakest link with a commendable 33 points.

On a rather high scoring day, the individual winner was Eric Kimani with 42 points whilst Tasneem Padamshi was the individual runner up with 41 points. Meer Samji was the guest winner on 41 points whilst Joseph Waithaka was the guest runner up with 40 points.

Golf Park’s Joseph Bett was the guest third with 37 pints. Coca-Cola Central East and West Africa Business Unit President, Nathan Kalumbu was the staff winner with 32 points. Peter Njonjo, the General Manager East Africa was the staff runner up with 31 points.

The Dasani Golf Gala now heads to the Nyali Golf and Country Club where members from the Coastal Bottlers territory will compete for two qualification slots into the Grand Finale that will be held on the 27th of August 2011 at the Karen Country Club. The winning team from the 2011 Dasani Golf Gala will win an all expenses paid golf trip to the TOUR Championship to be held at the East Lake Golf Course in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

The winners will be VIP guests of the Coca-Cola company. michael kors handtasche michael kors handtasche

SWING: Thika's Simon Ngige follows his tee at Nakuru Golf Club.

By JAPHETH KAGONDU in NAKURU

Thika’s Simon Ngige pliability and consistency saw him triumph with a single stroke lead after round four of the KCB Corporate Banking at the par 73 Nakuru Golf Club. Ngige, formerly a Njoro player, hittwo-over on day four to reach one-under overall, after holding the lead forthree rounds.

The win, which is Ngige’s second after he won round one and three of the KCB East African Golf Tour at Thika and Kisumu respectively, saw the ambitious golfer pocket Kshs 110,000 gross. Ngige’s win of one-under par 291 is the lowest winning score registered since the KCB series started started.

This is as a result of the tough conditions of the par 73 Nakuru golf course.

“ Despitethe harsh conditions of the course and the tough pin positions, I managed towin this tournament since am well acquainted with the course and my consistencypaid off,” said an elated Ngige.
On the first nine, Ngige dropped shots on thesecond, fourth and ninth but rolled a birdie on the seventh to return two-overpar 38.

At the back nine, he sunk two birdies but finished with a dreadful double bogey on hole eighteen after his second shot went to the bushes and got lost.

Nevertheless, he rounded one-over par 38 for a total of three over par 76. Nakuru’s left-hander Richard Ainley, who won in the same event last year,failed to reign and defend the win this year after a triple-bogey on par 3 hole17 which certainly cost him several strokes forcing him to settle for a joint second position with long-hitter Dimas Indiza. Both players finished level par 292 to earn Kshs 60,350 net.

Ainley dropped three shots, rolled two birdies atthe outward nine while at the inward nine he birdied the twelfth, eighteenthbut had a disastrous triple bogey on hole 17.

Mumia’s Dismas Indiza who was also in hot pursuit for the top prize only dropped two shots but bowled three birdies to propel his score of one-under par 72.

Youngster Greg Snow faded to fourth position after he managed two-over par 75 on day four and a cumulative total of one-over par 293.
Snow, who displayed excellent golf in KCB Rwanda Open hit five bogeys and only sunk three birdies on round four of the KCB Regional Tour dubbed, KCB Corporate Banking.

Vet Lab’s Ali Kimani and Sullivan Muthugia both reached a total cumulative four-over par 296 to jointly tie at position five. Following closely, also in a joint tie of position seven was Ken Abuto and Boniface Simwa who cavorted home with five over par 297 in the event that saw 16 players survive the cut after two rounds.

Hesbon Kutwa and Muthaiga’s Nicholas Rokoine finished on position nine and ten respectively. The four rounds-event was the sixth series of the KCB East African Golf Tour that saw over 28 elite golfers from Kenya participate. The next edition of the regional tournament will be held early July in Kampala, Uganda where the regional elitegolfers will be fighting for Ksh 1million prize fund on offer. michael kors tasche sale michael kors tasche sale