Members of the Mombasa Golf Club team pose for a group photo after finishing second at the 98th edition of Tannahill Shield at Royal Nairobi Golf Club during the Easter weekend.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Mombasa Golf Club for the first time in the history of the Tannahill Shield, managed a second place finish at the end of the 98^th edition of the competition that was held at the Royal Nairobi Golf Club during the Easter weekend.

The Coast lads finished second on 40 points, seven points behind winners Sigona Golf Club, while Muthaiga Golf Club was third on 36 points.

The club captain for the runners-up team, James Gitonga lauded the team’s effort in the four-days event, noting that prior to the competition, the best position they had finished in was a third spot which they realised in 2019.

“Other Tannahill teams should expect a stronger and competitive Mombasa team in 2024. We are working on building a junior team to represent the Coast team in various future tournaments, to ensure our juniors play at the highest level. We are on overdrive in organizing junior golf clinics in that regard,” Gitonga said.

He added: “Some of our top juniors we will rely on for success are Nathan Ng’weno, Fidel Wasike, Ethan Kinuthia, Alvin Ngaruiya and Garcia Maina.”

On paper, hosts Royal Nairobi Golf Club and multiple winners Muthaiga had been tipped as favourites to win the 98^th edition of the Tannahill Shield tournament at its historical venue, the par 72 course, but the story turned out to be different on the ground.

Sigona put up a brave fight in the final round, beating Karen Country Club and Windsor to clinch the coveted title 98th edition of the annual Tannahill Shield tournament that had been curtain raised by a junior tournament pitting the clubs at the same venue.

It was a brilliant performance from the Sigona team, which managed a total of 47 points. In the first round the team picked eight points, before garnering 15 points in the second round, then they managed 11 points in the third round and completed the campaign with 13 points on the fourth and final round.

During the final round which attracted a big crowd, Sigona beat Karen 5-3 and collected a maximum eight points from relegated bound Windsor for 11 points in the round and a grand total of 47 points, to beat the hot-charging Mombasa by seven points.

This was the first time in the history of the event Sigona was able to win out-rightly after tying with Vet Lab in 1974 and again with Muthaiga in 2013.

During their match against Karen, the Sigona pair of Akshay Chandaria and Suny Matharu beat Justus Njogu and Rufus Gichuki 9-8. Then Sam Kingori and Ngondo Kimemia halved with Liban Roba and Shahshwat Harish.

Deep Shah and Kush Mediratta won by one hole against Karen’s Gilbert Maina and Paul Kaguamba. Sigona though lost the last game where Amit Modi and Anand Chandarana lost 4-3 to Robert Keter and James Ngotho.

The Mombasa side which had a tough outing during Saturday afternoon’s third round, bounced back to form to beat Western 5-3 and Limuru 7-1 to bring their aggregate to 40 points. This is the first time Mombasa finished second in the tournament.

On the other hand, Western Kenya team tied third with defending champions Muthaiga on 36 points each, while hosts Royal were fifth on 29 points, one better than Limuru. Royal was only able to earn four points in the final round.

Railway, who picked 10 points in the last round, tied with Karen on 23 points as Windsor who got two points, finished with 17 points, and will be relegated, hence will miss next year’s tournament.

A total of nine teams participated in the tournament which was sponsored by Jamii Telecommunications.

Jeremy Ngunze Director at DTB in action during the DTB Golf tournament at Sigona Golf Club.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Sigona’s home player Jiang Qi was crowned the winner of the first leg of the second edition of the Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) ‘Bank with us’ golf tournament held on Saturday at the par 72 Sigona Golf Club in Limuru, Kiambu County.

Playing off handicap 16 in division one, Mr. Qi, capitalised on his current best form and the course’s good condition to return an impressive total of 43 points to claim the title, beating his closest challenger Mr. Solomon Kanja on 41 points nett standings. This was courtesy of 21 points at the front nine and 22 points at the back nine.

“I would like to thank Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) for such a wonderful event. This is a great initiative to help support the growing golf in the country. I am equally delighted to emerge as the winner of the first tournament of this year’s DTB bank with us golf edition. The cause was really nice with good fairways that enabled me to play well to beat my competitors. I am looking forward to participating in more events like these as the bank continues to support sports and develop talents in the country.” said Jiang Qi

Meanwhile, playing off handicap 2, Atish Malde carded 42 points to claim the victory in the division 2 category, with another home golfer Akshay Chandaria claiming the Gross category title after returning a total of 73 points.

The Best first nine went to Paul Saahil Nanji, with the best second nine award going to Dhruv Shah, who garnered 22 and 23 points, respectively.

In the Longest Drive challenge, Hanif Tayabjee and Safina Madhani, all amateurs were the stars in the men and ladies’ categories respectively.  Meanwhile, playing off handicap 52, Catherine Mugane shone during the tournament by posting 40 points to clinch the DTB Staff prize with Emmanuel Tabone claiming the nearest to the pin award.

The tournament at Sigona attracted over 240 players from as far as Thika and Nairobi who participated in a four-ball tournament with various prizes ranging from golf bags to wheel-pull golf trollies being won.

Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) ‘Bank with us’ golf tournament aims to grow the sport as well as boost businesses by bringing services closer to their customers and offering networking opportunities. Last year the bank held five successful golf tournaments in Kakamega, Mombasa, Kericho, Kisumu and Eldoret that saw over 1,000 participants take part in.