'King of the Course' series heads to Ruiru

The new King of the course golf champion James Ndunda (right) receives the trophy from ICEA Lion General Manager Alvin Odhiambo at Machakos golf club on January 4, 2020. 

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Like last year, ICEA LION has lined-up some fabulous prize for the various categories, besides the trophy that goes to the overall winner.
  • Meanwhile, the par 73 Kitale Golf Club course in the North Rift is hosting the Chairman’s Putter golf tournament, which has attracted players from the rest of the clubs in the North Rift, while Vet Lab will stage the first round of the annual Sungura Cup.

The focus in the local amateur golf scene now shifts to the Ruiru Sports Club course where the popular par 72 course hosts the third leg in the ICEA LION King of the Course golf series.

Being sponsored by ICEA LION Insurance Group, Saturday’s King of the Course tournament, which follows Friday’s club-nite at the giant Thika Greens Golf Resort and last weekend’s series opener at Machakos, has attracted a field of over 300 players that include a strong contingent of 30 golfers from Machakos.

During the Machakos leg, Royal Nairobi’s Kiplagat Chebii beat a field of 124 players to emerge the 'King of the Course'. With such a huge field at Ruiru this weekend, it is almost impossible to predict who will emerge 'King of the Course'.

The format being a stableford scoring will definitely favour those in the middle and high handicap bracket, but one can’t rule out the single figure players such as Chris Andrea and Ben Omondi, though they will have to fire level par and better for them to feature in the prize list, leave alone claiming the overall title.

Also on the line-up will be last year’s winner, Anthony Muigai, who posted an impressive score of 40 points to claim the Ruiru leg, then playing off handicap 27.

Like last year, ICEA LION has lined-up some fabulous prize for the various categories, besides the trophy that goes to the overall winner.

Meanwhile, the par 73 Kitale Golf Club course in the North Rift is hosting the Chairman’s Putter golf tournament, which has attracted players from the rest of the clubs in the North Rift, while Vet Lab will stage the first round of the annual Sungura Cup.