Home player Chauhan impresses at Nyali Club

By Larry Ngala

Nyali’s Kailesh Chauhan, a motorsport personality turned golfer, overpowered a strong field of 246 to emerge the overall winner of the eighth leg of the Safaricom Golf Tour, at the par 71 Nyali Golf and Country Club course.

Playing off handicap 25, Chauhan picked up pars on the first nine’s par three, third, two more pars on the par four-fourth and one more at the par five-fifth, in addition to the par four-seventh for an impressive 24 points at the outward nine.

And despite making a triple bogey seven at the par four-13th and a double at the 16th, three more pars from the back nine for 20 points was still enough for an 18-hole total of 44 points, to claim victory with a big margin of four points from men’s winner Jon Stokes, a former Nyali chairman who had carded 40 points to beat at Aloise Ogola on countback.

“First I wish to thank Safaricom for such a wonderfully organised event. I have been practising for this tournament since last week, and this also being my home club means I understand the course inside out. I played a great game; had great swings, and I am happy to have emerged the winner of this leg of the tour despite the strong challenge from other players,” said Chauhan.

Speaking during the prize-giving ceremony, Safaricom’s head of Nairobi East and Coast Elizabeth Wasuna, said the firm, which has been supporting various sporting activities in the country, had invested Ksh100 million in the 14-leg series in order to support the Junior Golf Foundation’s efforts to nurture and develop young talent from the age of five.

“Kenya has great talent though golf has always been looked at as an elite sport. This is one reason why Safaricom came in to try and demystify the sport,” said Wasuna.

“It’s a sport like any other. So far, it has been very interesting seeing the number of players participating in the junior tournaments as well as in the clinics,” she added and thanked Nyali Golf and Country Club for hosting the event.