Col. Mulwa claims victory in 12th leg of Safaricom golf series

High-handicapper Lieutenant Colonel Michael Mulwa of Kenya Air Force Golf Club Eastleigh beat a field of 127 players to emerge as the overall winner of the 12th leg of the Safaricom Golf Series in a colourful event held at the Kenya Air Force Golf Club over the weekend.

Playing off handicap 27, Col. Mulwa carded 18 points in the front nine before returning an impressive 25 points from the back nine courtesy of a birdie at hole 17.

Mulwa now joins a list of qualifiers drawn from various clubs in the country.

"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 more confidence, and I now need to start training regularly as I prepare to face other winners in the finals," said Col Mulwa.

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.

Meanwhile, claiming the men 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.

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 took the ladies title.

Meanwhile, Duncan Kamau Mburu was the winner in the nearest-to-the-pin contest.

With only two legs remaining before the grand finale on August 6 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.

From the Kenya Air Force, the tour now moves to Vet Lab Sports Club this coming weekend.

The tour is part of Safaricom’s effort in growing the sport of golf among junior players in the country.

This follows its partnership agreement with the Junior Golf Foundation (JGF).