Junior Golfers during a recent action at Windsor Golf and Country Club.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

The East Africa Junior Golf Rankings has today announced that the 4^th Edition of its flagship tournament series will be held from Thursday 2nd April to Saturday 4th April 2026 at Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club, Nairobi. The event will be a three-day, 54-hole competition, marking the programme’s most ambitious edition to date.

In a landmark decision, the EAJGR Board of Commissioners, at a meeting held on Monday 23rd March 2026, resolved to expand the programme’s eligibility criteria to include players aged 19 to 24 years (inclusive). This expansion is designed to accommodate university-level student-athletes and ensure a seamless development pathway from junior golf into young adult competition.

The 4th Edition will also welcome the United States International University (USIU- Africa) Varsity Golf Team to EAJGR events for the first time. USIU-Africa’s entry into the rankings programme represents a significant milestone in EAJGR’s mission to build competitive structures that bridge junior development and university-level sport.

With this development, Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club now proudly serves as the home course for two neighbourhood institutions: Marurui Primary & Junior School and USIU-Africa. Players from both institutions will train together on a regular basis, creating a unique and powerful talent ecosystem that spans primary school through to university.

Speaking on the significance of the expansion, EAJGR Commissioner Maria Aloo said: “This is a transformative moment for Kenyan golf and for the sport across the entire East African region. By extending our rankings programme to include university-age players, we are creating a structure that no longer loses talented young golfers at the point where they enter higher education. The inclusion of USIU-Africa’s varsity team is just the beginning. Our ambition is to see inter-varsity golf teams established throughout East Africa, competing within the EAJGR framework. When universities begin to recruit and develop golfers as part of their sports programmes, we will have built a pipeline that can sustain itself — from the schoolyard to the fairway to the professional tour. That is the future we are building.”

This integrated approach is at the heart of the EAJGR vision: to identify, nurture, and develop golfing talent across East Africa and beyond, from the grassroots level through to competitive university sport and, ultimately, the professional game.

Mwathi Gicheru is congratulated after finishing the All Africa Junior Teams Championships as the best placed Kenyan player at Windsor Golf and Country Club.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

South Africa once again dominated the All Africa Junior Teams Championships after winning both the Boys and Girls competitions at the par 72 Windsor Golf and Country Club. Click this link https://a.meridianbet.ke/c/C7pYjz to start gaming and stand a chance of winning big with Meridianbet.

The victors represented by Andries Van Der Vyver, Cilliers Craig, Dewan De Bruin and Roelof Craigled from start to finish with the boys team managing a combined score of 22 under, while the girls team managed a score of 14 under.

Kenya finished second in the competition, a position they held from the first to the last day, with the boys managing a combined score of +13, while the girls’ team managed a combined score of +5.

The results meant that South Africa and Kenya boys’ teams would represent Africa at the World Junior Championships in Japan in June, by virtue of finishing as the best two boys teams, while in the girls’ competition, only South Africa qualified to represent the continent at the global showpiece, since only the best team was getting the limited ticket.

South Africa’s winning boys team

Andries Van Der Vyver finished the competition as the best player on 15 under par 201 after a final day score of four under par 72. Today he picked three shots on the front nine, but played a bogey on the par four second hole, while in the second nine, he had a double bogey on the par four 11^th, but recovered with with four birdies.

Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s junior Mwathi Gicheru registered the best scores for Team Kenya boys, managing an overall score of one over to anchor the team to a strong runners-up position.

“The experience was good. I cannot say it was easy, it was a bit hard. The course was playing long, the greens were fast, but we managed to play well. It means a lot because South Africa is a very strong team and finishing second behind them shows that we are also strong and we can compete with the best in Africa,” Gicheru said.

He added: “I feel great. It is a dream come true for me. I have always wanted to represent my country in a world event, and now I have the chance. We are going to work hard and make sure we perform well in Japan.”

In the girl’s competition, South Africa who were represented by Lourenda Steyn, Phenyo Sebata and Casey Twidale, managed a combined final score of 14 under, with Lourenda Steyn being their best player after the three rounds on an individual score of eight under. Phenyo Sebata who had been in a class of her own in the first two rounds, fumbled in today’s final round after dropping six shots on the first nine and dropping three shots in the second nine.

South Africa’s winning girls team

Bianca Ngechu had the best scores for the Kenyan girls on five over.

Team Kenya’s team manager Vincent Mukiri said he was delighted with the general performance of the team, noting that the team had prepared well for the event.

He said the second place finish meant a lot to the country. He noted that as a host country, Team Kenya was delighted to be runners-up on home soil.

“To start with, the team was made up of players from Order of Merit who were then put into a camp, a nine-month camp from where we then selected from a group of 20 players this group of four boys and three girls. Therefore, it is a nine-month program that we have seen presenting four boys and three girls to compete in this event,” Mukiri said.

He added: “When you look at Team Kenya’s performance, the boys have managed to clinch a spot into the World Championship and of course the girls finished second although one team is going to Japan. All in all, it’s still a good performance. Remember before we came we set individual goals and we set team goals. Individual goals were based on what each player wanted to achieve. Team goals was what we wanted to achieve as a team. And I believe silver for each of these teams is a great achievement. For the boys, they get to go to Tokyo, Japan for the World Cup. For the girls, we still do not have a provision that they can go. We are trying to lobby the relevant bodies to also have girls included in this because really they’ve done their best and golf for girls is growing in Africa and one of the ways to encourage it is to create pathways even as the boys are being given such pathways.

Boys Final Leader-board:

1. South Africa -22
2. Kenya +13
3. Morocco +18
4. Uganda +25
5. Zimbabwe +27
6. Zambia +33
7. Mauritius +49
8. Namibia +52
9. Botswana +55
10. Ghana +76
11. Egypt +86
12. Tanzania +100
13. Cote D’Ivore +106
14. Tunisia +130

Girls Final Leader-board:

1. South Africa -14
2. Kenya +5
3. Morocco +29
4. Zimbabwe             +43
5. Tunisia             +45
6. Uganda +61
7. Botswana +87
8. Ghana +104
9. Mauritius +105
10. Zambia +134
11. Egypt +161