Golf Park Open cancelled

This year’s Golf Park Open golf tournament whose second round was cancelled due to the poor condition of the course following the heavy rain on Saturday morning, has now been cancelled altogether until at a time when the course will be in a playable condition.

A brief statement from the Kenya Golf Union said: “Due to inclement weather, and flooding on the course, we regret to inform you that the tournament has been cancelled. Safety is our top priority, and we appreciate your understanding. We will keep you updated on any rescheduling plans.’’

Only the first round was played and completed on Friday, while Saturday’s round was cancelled after an inspection of the course by tournament referees.

It’s the second event to be affected by the ongoing rains. The first one was the Winston Churchill Cup at Thika Sports Club whose second round was cancelled though the third round on Sunday was played, making this year’s a 36-hole event where Kiambu’s Elvis Muigua emerged the winner.

At Kakamega Sports Club, the home team of Cedric Konzolo, Jack Songwa, Victor Muhando and Julius Oketch produced a superb total of 116 points, to clinch the top prize in the Kakamega leg of the 2024 KCB East Africa golf tour at the nine-hole Kakamega golf club course on Saturday.

They won the top prize by a margin of three points from the team of James Mundia, Kunal Chandaria, Maureen Mundia, and Ivan Poakas who claimed second spot after returning a combined score of 113 points in the event which attracted a field of 115 golfers. The two teams thus secured their places in the tour’s grand finale slated for December 6 at the par 71 Muthaiga Golf Club.

Speaking on behalf of his teammates, Konzolo said: “I am very eager to represent my home club at the grand finale. We had an amazing four-ball. We challenged each other to play well and which is exactly what we did. The greens were good and the fairways wide enough.”

Individually, Konzolo, carded 41 stableford points to also take the overall individual prize of the day, beating Kunal Chandaria. Chandaria had posted 40 points. Lydia Oketch, on the other hand returned 40 points to bag the lady’s award.

Aaron Kitur from Eldoret Golf Club secured the longest drive award in the men’s category while Wanjiku from Kitale Golf Club took the ladies’ prize. Jinja Golf Club’s  Steve Kitamarike claimed the nearest to the pin.

Kitale’s Edwin Chesum carded 36 points to emerge the guest winner in the competition that featured golfers from Kakamega, Jinja, Tororo, Mbale, Royal Nairobi, Nakuru, Karen, Nandi, Eldoret and Nyanza, where leading the staff was Victor Odendo with 35 points. Eliud Siganga, a regular staff winner settled for second place after returning 29 points. Elvis Mbakaya won the junior winner award.

The Bank conducted a juniors’ golf clinic on Sunday morning at the same venue and a tree-planting initiative to contribute to environmental conservation efforts through the golf series. The tour now crosses the borders to Bujumbura Golf Club in Burundi on April 27, before the Nakuru leg later in May.

At Machakos Golf Club’s par 72 course, lady golfer Vivian Kosgei posted 40 points to top the winners list in the Wakili Golf Day where the men winner was Anthony Gatu who also fired 40 points, beating Mark Maku on countback.

Machakos Golf Club’s leading golfer James Ndunda, now playing off handicap four, carded 37 points to finish third with Maruti Litali taking home the fourth prize on 35 points, just a point better than Charles Obonyo.

Nancy Kariuki was on top form as she posted 39 points to emerge as the best lady, winning fairly comfortably from Alice Abere on 34 while Lilian Loko topped the guests list with 38 points after beating the handicap 10 Anthony Muita on countback.

In the high handicap division, Karoki Gathugu was the best with 33 points, and he won by two points from Vincent Musalia on 31 after beating Mark Kotonya on countback. The ladies prize went to Gladys Titi on 36 points, one better than Ruth Mbeti on 35, while Felistas Mativo was third on 32.

Heading the sponsors list was Ben Mungata on 39 points, followed by Joe Mboya on 35 and Leonard Munyao Kamba took the seniors prize with 34 points.

The two nines went to Kennedy Ngugi on 21 and Felix Kipyego on 20, with Lucia Mwaniki taking the nearest to pin title as well as the longest drive contest. The longest drive men winner was John Kitaka.