Lt Col Michael Mulwa of the Kenya Airforce, Moi Airbase, emerged as the winner of the 12th leg of the Safaricom Golf Series held at the Kenya Airforce Golf Club.
Playing off handicap 27, Col Mulwa carded 18 points in the front nine before returning 25 points in the back nine courtesy of a birdie at hole 17 enabling him to beat a field of 127 participants to claim the overall title of the tournament.
“This is my first time participating in such a big tournament. Today’s win is a great honour and a proud moment in my golfing career since I started playing golf one year ago. The challenging places were the red soils and the greens, but I am glad I managed to get good scores. The win has given me much confidence, and I now need to start training regularly as I prepare to face other winners in the finals,” said Col Mulwa
The victory at the Kenya Airforce earned Col Mulwa a direct slot in the series’ grand finale to be held in Vipingo in early August.
The corporate tournament also ran alongside the Golf Outreach dubbed ‘Golf Mtaani’ held at MCEDO Beijing Grounds in Mathare Constituency, with over 100 young people getting an opportunity to learn basic skills about golf from professional trainers.
Claiming the winner’s Men category was Major Elvis Murunga with 42 points after posting 20 points in the front nine and 22 points in the back nine to beat his closest challenger J.M Kamande on three points difference.
Among the lady golfers, playing off handicap 36, Grace Naiserian carded a round of 41 points, four better than her club-mate Christine Kamais, to claim the title in the Ladies category. In comparison, Fredrick Wagura was crowned the guest winner after posting 40 points to lead the guest participants category.
Elsewhere, playing off handicap 20, Martin Mabuya continued with his stunning performance to win the staff top prize after closing his round with 34 points courtesy of a front nine score of 13 points and back nine scores of 21 points.
In the longest drive contest, James Mwangi claimed the honours among the men, while Margaret Kungu claimed the win among the ladies. Meanwhile, Duncan Kamau Mburu was the winner in the nearest-to-the-pin contest.
The Kenya Airforce tournament attracted 90 juniors taking part in the juniors’ tournament today, Sunday, 17th July, with 40 aspiring youngsters attending the golf clinics at the same facility.
With only two legs remaining before the grand finale on 6th August in Vipingo, the tour has so far attracted close to 6,000 golfers who have taken part in the various tournaments, junior clinics and outreach programmes. The next leg of the tour is scheduled for 23rd July at Vet Lab Golf Club.