LONG HITTER: Mumias pro golfer Dismas Indiza follows his tee shot at the Kigali Golf Club on the first round of the 5th Leg fo the KCB Golf Tour. He finished the first round tied on position five.

By JAPHETH KAGUNDU in Kigali

Vet Lab’s Ali Kimani displayed outstanding golf afterhe sunk six birdies to romp home 5 under par 67 taking the lead on day one ofthe KCB Rwanda Open in Kigali Golf Club, Rwanda.

Ali, who teed off at 9am (Rwanda time) in the company of Ethiopia’s Gabriele Haile and Rwanda’s EmanuelRuterana, only dropped a shot on par four hole seven to upstage fellow elitepros from the region.

Surprisingly, Ali has never pared the famous hole seven for the three years he has played at the course. He drove to the trees, laid up, hit a third shot with a wedged but two putted for a bogey. Ali who attributed his win to his good swing, embarked on the outward nine with a par followed bytwo birdies on holes two and three.

He then pared the fourth, fifth, eighth, ninth, dropped a shot on the seventh but recovered with a birdie on hole six to finish 2 under par 33 in the outward nine. At the inward nine, Ali continued with the streak of pars on the tenth, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth. In addition he fired birdies on the eleventh, seventeenth and eighteenth to propel his score to 3 under par 34 on the inward nine for atotal of 5 under par 67 in the four- day event of the KCB East African Golf Tour.

Following closely was Rwanda’s Emmanuel Ruterana who showed signs of staging a tough challenge after he brought home 3 under par 69 in the now renowned KCB regional elite golfers event. Ruterana, who was playing at home never dropped a shot in the scenic par 72 course in the middle of Kigali, Rwanda.

At the first nine, he pared all the holes except for hole six where he sunk a birdie to collect 1 under par34. At the back nine, he repeated the same feat of pars on all holes with the exception of a birdie on hole seventeen to amass 2 under par 35 for a total of3 under 69. Muthaiga’s Nicholas Rokoine and Greg Snow the winner of round twoof the tour both tied with 2 under par 70. Long-hitter Dismas Indiza, who recently won the KCB Bank Arusha tour faced the challenging course to return level par securing himself the fifth postion. Indiza tied on the position with left-hander Richard Ainley, Nyanza’sDavid Odhiambo, Hardeep Thethy and Rwanda’s John Baptiste all who played levelpar. James Lorum and and SA based Anil Shah finished 1 over par 73 followed byNjuguna Ngugi and Charan Thethy with 2 over par 74.

The stage is now set for stiff competition on day two of the event that attracted over 34 elite professional golfers from the region and one from Ethiopia all fighting for the Kshs 1 million prize fund on offer from KCB Bank. cgparkaoutlet cgparkaoutlet

FOCUSED: Korby Gatiramu line his putt during the junior event at Royal Nairobi Golf Club on Sunday.

By KGG CORRESPONDENT

Junior sensational Tailmeer Malik resisted stiff challenge from Njoroge Kibugu to win this year’s Royal Marbel Junior Golf tournament sponsored by Imperial Bank at the par 72 Royal Nairobi Golf Club on Sunday.

Malik posted 52 gross to win the 7-8 years old categoryafter a fierce nine-hole competition on a cold afternoon. Kibugu settled for the runner-position on 60 gross, while Wairethi Mutahi was third on 67 gross.

“This is good practice and it would help our golfing careera lot. We need more similar events in future to hone our golfing skills,” said Kibugu who plays at Muthaiga Golf Club. In the six years and below category, Waridi Maina was unbeatable after he amassed 79 gross, while David Killinkoy had to beat Alex Kamau on countback to finish second on 86 gross. Kamau settled for third position on 86 gross. Staurt Gitau reigned supreme in the 9-10 years old category, scoring 51 gross and Korby Gatiramu closely followed him in the second positionon 53 gross. Wilborne Kibugu, an elder brother of Njoroge Kibugu was third on54 gross.

Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) chairman Ashwin Gidoomal saidthe tournament was great success and lauded Royal Club and sponsors ImperialBank for organising it. Gidoomal JGFwas taking a new dimension on the sport to help increase junior participationin golf.

“We are going to introduce tournament conditions in all theclubs country wide that junior competitions would have to be incorporated,” said Gidoomal. The day long tournament attracted a large field of 120junior players. canada goose sale damen canada goose sale damen