The ongoing NCBA Golf Series heads to the nine-hole Railways Golf Club this Saturday for the 18th leg on the calendar. 150 golfers are expected to take to the course, where five top finishers will qualify to play in the Series Grand Finale in December at the Karen Country Club.
Different from other events in the Series, the Railways leg will host members from both the club and Golf Park Golf Club; offering golfers from both clubs an opportunity to take part in the Series and book a ticket to the finale.
As part of the arrangement, three Railways golfers will qualify for the grand finale, while two from Golf Park will qualify for the event. This will bring to 85 the total number of players who will have qualified for the event so far.
Other events on the NCBA Series calendar to be played ahead of the finale are legs at Royal Nairobi Golf Club, Muthaiga Golf Club, and Ruiru Sports Club. The final event on the Series will be a junior golf event which will be held at the Muthaiga Golf Club.
This will be the second junior golf tournament to be held in the Series calendar with the first having been held at Karen in August this year. The event attracted the participation of 85 junior golfers aged six to 18 years.
Of the 85, 43 qualified to play at the Rome Classic tournament – which was held this month – and at the Big Five Tournament in South Africa next year. Four of the junior golfers who qualified to play at the Rome Classic managed to travel for the event – Ashley Gachora, Mwathi Gicheru, Shashwat Harish, and Lee Kimathi – produced stellar results.
Ashley emerged third in the girls’ eight-years-and-under category while Mwathi clinched second place in the boys’ ten years category. Shashwat secured a seven-place finish in the boys, 11 years category as Lee finished fifth in the boys 15-to-18-years category.
The other participants who qualified for the event but could not travel due to various reasons were given an extension for 2022 as part of negotiations with the international qualifiers.
Commenting on the junior gofers’ outing in Rome, NCBA Group Managing Director, John Gachora, said:
“We are extremely pleased with the performance shown by the junior golfers at the Rome Classic event. It confirms what we have always held – that the future of golf in our country lies in the hands of this young talent whom we must nurture to enhance our chances of producing global golf stars.
“Being the first international tournament which these young golfers have taken part in, there is a lot of promise in what the future holds for Kenyan golf; and I am pleased to reiterate that we will continue providing opportunities for them to hone their skills further.”
Commenting on the Railways tournament this coming weekend, the NCBA Group Managing Director said: “We look forward to having the Series at Railways, particularly because we will be having the participation of membership from two clubs in one venue. The top five winners from this event will join the others who have already qualified to play at the Series finale, and just like the other tournaments, we look forward to an exciting event on course.”