Junior golfer Oscar Kuhnert pulls his golf bag at Sigona Golf Club.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

The 5th leg of the U.S Kids Golf Spring Local Tour attracted 104 junior players at the challenging hilly Sigona golf club. Two of the golfers that took part are on a golf Safari tour of Africa. Rudolf Kuhnet from Vienna, Austria has been on a three weeks’ tour of Africa, starting in South Africa, then Uganda and finally Kenya where he has taken his Children 10-year-old Oscar Kuhnert and 8-year-old Allegra Kuhnert on a golf playing tour.

“I’m really impressed by the quality of golf in Kenya, they played really well and the competition for my kids was tough. We were hoping for very good results here and go back to Austria with very good golf memories,” said Rudolf.

The Kuhnert family arrived at Sigona by chance. While playing in Uganda, they met a Kenyan family playing in the Uganda tournament and they were invited to Kenya. Both families arrived in Nairobi on Monday on the eve of the U.S Kids Tour Sigona leg.

“We were invited by a friend who also has boys playing here (Sigona). He told me to come here because we have to see this beautiful location, so of course we honoured the invitation,” he explained.

Kuhnert senior says the toughest course was in South Africa, followed by Kenya. Uganda he says was just different. His children performed well in Kenya, Oscar finishing second on 45 points, two shots behind Palash Tank in the boys 10-year-old category. Allegra also finished second with 44 points, two shots behind the winner Aarna Mengi in the girls eight years category. Rudolf was a busy father, as he had to caddie for both children who played at different times.

“I was out of breath coming back from the hills. I was with my son on the course for six hours, then I looked at my watch and saw it was already late!! (for Allegra’s tee off). So I had to run back to the tee off to caddie my daughter and was completely out of breath. I’m glad my son finished by himself and still got a good score,” he explained.

“I was struggling a bit in the opening holes but I got better and better as I moved on. Again in the last few holes, I struggled a bit because I was alone, but in my mind my father was speaking to me, giving me tips. Then I just focussed on the game,” said Oscar Kuhnert.

Allegra said “It was good but there are not so many bunkers here. After Kenya, I want to visit America!”

After all the golf, the Kuhnerts will be in Kenya for another three days to sample what Kenya has to offer.

“We are now about three weeks in Africa and my children have only seen golf places. So we hope to see some of the animals, we will go somewhere outside Nairobi on a small safari for two or three days,” said a beaming Rudolf.

He added that Kenya was on their bucket list of places to visit, only that it came earlier than planned.

“Kenya and Africa was always an interesting country for me because in my opinion, Africa is the future. So I was very happy to come here and im very happy that my children get the experience to see how it is in Africa and the great opportunities they will have in future.”

The Sigona leg again witnessed great competition with the girls 9-10 years category decided by a play off in hole one. Nyawira Macharia who won the play off was tied on 46 points with Ashley Gachora.

“The play off was with one of my very close friends, so it would have been really hard. At first, we both had very striking drives, but when everyone hits a great drive, it really comes don’t to the short game. So you would first want to read the lines of your chip because the greens might be a little tough. Then with putting you do the same thing, just read the lines,” explained Nyawira on how she won the play off.

In third place was Ashley Muyera on shot behind the leaders. Zianna Khoda and Siqian Yu were also joint fourth on48 points.

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.