SWING: Seacom Regional Head James Opio tees off to inaugurate the series.

By KGG CORRESPONDENT

Handicap 4 Evans Vitisia beat a large field of seasoned Nairobi golfers to emerge with the best shots of the day during the first series of Seacom golf tour at Muthaiga Golf Club yesterday.

The home club member got a strong 40 stableford points to emerge victorious after combining 20 on the front nine and 20 on the back nine.

Evans who have played golf since 1978 set off on the 373 yards par 1^st hole, bogeyed on 2^nd hole and back to back pars on 3rd,4th,5th and 6^th holes.

He embarked with a strong par on the famous notorious hole seven,562 yards, the only birdie on the first nine before wrapping up his front nine on 20 points with a par.

An elated Evans was on course again on his back nine which pared on 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15^th holes.

He hit the only bogey of his back nine on the 215 yards 16^th hole, a par on 17^th and a round of birdie to pen 20 on back nine.

“I played well, despite the captain trying to make the greens very hard for us, I focused on what had brought me here today and that’s how I won” said an elated Vitisia after receiving his prize from Seacom’s Regional Head Julius Opiyo.

Limuru’s Vincent Wan’gombe came in second recording 38 stableford points after combining 19 on front nine and a repeat of the same on his outward nine.

Playing off handicap 23, Wan’gombe started off dropping two shots on 1^st hole,double bogey on 2nd,dropped a shot on 3rd and 4th.

On the 165 yards 5^th hole, Wan’gombe hit a par, dropped shots all through to 9th with a double bogey on eighth hole to record 19 on front nine.

On back nine,Vincent got 19 points.He started off scratching on the 531 yards 10^th hole,double bogey on 11^th,dropped two shots on 12^th.He picked up a par on stroke index 12,13^th,dropped a shot on 14^th,double bogey on 15^th and back to back pars all through to 18^th to record 19 on back nine for 38 stableford points.

Sigh Khromov also a member at Muthaiga,playing off handicap 13 was third with 37 stableford points after combining 18 on front and 19 on back nine.

In the ladies category, handicap 9, Nancy Ndungu from Windsor golf and country club took home the ladies trophy after she combined 19 on the front nine and 16 on the back nine to romp home with 35 points. Emaculate Wambui and Shah Patel got 32 and 28 points to finish second and third respectively.

Anthony Ngacha took home the 1^st nine prizes after he played a strong 21 points and Japheth Kiboi took home the 2^nd nine with18 points.

Longest Drive Men went to Onesmus Mutuota and the ladies longest drive went to hard hitting Miriam Wambui.

John Odhiambo took home the nearest to the pin trophy and handicap 16 Joshua Chepkwony took home the Guest winners prize with 35 points. canada goose kinder canada goose kinder

PLOTTING: James Lorum (L) and Greg Snow during the KCB 5th leg Golf Tour at Kigali Golf Club.

By JAPHETH KAGONDU in Kigali

Greg Snow’s resilience and consistency saw him triumph with a seven stroke lead after round four of the KCB Rwanda Open in Kigali Golf Club, Rwanda. Snow, in his quest to seal his status as a force to reckon with, hit two-under on day four to reach eleven-under overall, after holding the lead for three rounds

The win, which is Greg’s second after he won round two of the KCB East African Golf Tour at Muthaiga, saw the youngster pocket Kshs 168,300. “ My consistency of always being on the fairway and on the green paid off despite the tough conditions of the course,” Said Greg who is set for the Burundi Open next week.

On the first nine, Greg bogeyed hole three and six after hitting left to the hazard and missing the green by 60 yards respectively but recovered with an earlier birdie on the fourth and repeated the same on the seventh and ninth. At the back nine, he rolled two birdies but three-putted the last hole for a bogey.

Long-hitter Dimas Indiza, who has been surging to the top after a joint-fifth on day one, reached five-under overall to romp home on position two earning himself Kshs 123, 250. Indiza, hit double bogeys on the seventh, eighth and eleventh to return a score of one over par 73 on round four.

“ I dropped several shots today especially at par three hole eleven where I was two on and continued to putt thrice, this really costed me the much needed strokes,” Indiza alleged.

However, it was a boundless final day for left-hander Richard Ainley, who sunk seven birdies to gain the best score of the day with three-under par 69. This projected him to the third position after holding a share of four-under par 284 to take home Kshs 92,650.

Ainley, began the outward nine by bogeying four holes but it is at the inward nine where he reaped fortunes after consecutive birdies on the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, then fourteenth and eighteenth. However, day one overnight leader failed to maintain the lead dropping to fourth position with a stroke behind Ainley to net Kshs 73,100.

Fifth placed was Brian Njoroge followed by Rwanda’s Emmanuel Ruterana who jointly tied with Hardeep Thethy on postion six receiving a token of Kshs 42,500. Another Rwandan, Jean Baptiste came in at position eight followed by a joint tie of SA based Anil Shah and Muthaiga’s Nicholas Rokoine. The four rounds-event was the fifth series of the KCB East African Golf Tour that saw over 35 elite golfers from the region participate. The next edition of the regional tournament will be staged in Nakuru Golf club in June.

KCB Rwanda open top ten:

1.   Greg Snow 70, 69,68, 70= 277

2.   Dismas Indiza 72, 69, 69,73= 283

3.   Richard Ainley 72, 76, 67, 69= 284

4.   Ali Kimani 67, 73, 72, 73= 285

5.   Brian Njoroge 75, 72, 71, 71= 289

6.   Hardeep Thethy 72, 74, 73,71=290

6.   Emmanuel Ruterana 69, 73, 73, 75=290

8.   Jean Baptiste 72, 75, 71, 73= 291

9.   Anil Shah 73, 73, 71, 75= 292

9.   Nicholas Rokoine 70, 79, 71, 71= 292

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