Belinda Wanjiru and Beiju Shah have been crowned the overall winners of the thirteenth leg of the Safaricom Golf Tour junior tournament held at the VetLab Golf Club on Sunday. The duo capitalized on the home advantage to post 75 and 74 points respectively to claim the tournaments best girl and boy titles.
“I started playing golf when I was nine years old. My journey and growth in the sport have been overwhelming with much support from my parents. The tournament was amazing as I had not much pressure on the course. I am glad to emerge as the overall best boy. Nothing beats the feeling of playing and winning at your home club” said Shah, a junior golfer.
Wanjiru and Shah have participated in the past junior tournaments and managed to lead in their respective group categories. This is the second overall title for Wanjiru after emerging as the best girl in the first leg of the juniors tournament in Nanyuki.
Sunday’s tournament witnessed 165 juniors participate in the event, with 90 juniors showing up for the golf clinic, which was part of the day’s activities.
On Saturday, the corporate tournament ran alongside the Golf Outreach dubbed ‘Golf Mtaani’ held at Kabete VetLab Primary School, with 80 young people getting an opportunity to learn basic skills about golf from Safaricom’s golf professional trainers.
The 14th leg, which also marks the last tournament of the series ahead of the grand finale in Vipingo, is scheduled for 30th July at Nairobi Royal Golf Club. The tour has so far attracted over 7,000 golfers participating in the various tournaments, junior clinics and outreach programmes.
As part of growing the sport among junior players in the country, Safaricom has partnered with the Junior Golf Foundation to tap and nurture young talent. The juniors can register with the Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) for KES.1,000, which grants them access to play at any golf club in the country.