Huge field for Nakuru leg of Safaricom Tour

The ongoing Safaricom Golf Tour which has entered its homestretch, makes a return visit to Rift Valley region for the fourth time, this time pitching camp at the hilly par 73 Nakuru Golf Club course.

The tour was last played in the Rift Valley three weeks at the par 73 Kitale Golf Club course where home player Elly Sorobea emerged the overall winner after posting an impressive 40 points. Before then, the popular Safaricom Tour had visited Eldoret and Kericho Golf Clubs.

This weekend’s tournament which is the 11th leg in the 14-events series, has as was expected, attracted a huge field of 250 players drawn from Nakuru, Njoro, Nyahururu, and a number of other clubs like Nandi Bears, Naivasha Sports Club, Kericho and the Great Rift Valley Golf Resort in Naivasha.

From Nakuru County, the Tour which has also been at Nanyuki, Limuru, Muthaiga, Nyanza, Machakos, Karen and Nyali, will do a final stop-over at the greater Nairobi City County with events at Royal Nairobi, Kenya Air Force Golf Club Eastleigh and Vet Lab Sports Club. All the qualifiers from those events will then converge at Vipingo Ridge’s PGA Baobab course in Kilifi County on August 6, for the grand finale.

But back at the par 73 Nakuru Golf Club course this weekend, where those drawn include Nation Classic Nakuru leg champion Peter Gathogo, a pupil from Christ The King Academy in Nakuru who also won the Junior event during the Kitale leg of the Tour.

During the Nation Classic event, Gathogo was at his best form as he managed to put together an impressive card of 44 points, to emerge the overall winner. A big number of juniors who will also feature in the Junior section of the Tour on Sunday, have been drawn in Saturday's senior event.

“Nakuru is the fourth event being held in the Rift Valley region and in the previous three tournaments, we have experienced massive turnouts, especially from the juniors. This is a clear indication that the Rift region can produce the next generation of the country’s top golfers,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.  

Besides Sunday’s juniors’ tournament, there will be as usual, the golf clinics for juniors who would like to play the game. The clinic will provide aspiring junior golfers with an opportunity to learn new skills from various trainers as has been the case in the past 10 legs.

The Tour has so far seen over 5,000 golfers participating in the 10 legs, as part of concerted efforts to grow the sport.

Safaricom has partnered with Junior Golf Foundation to tap and nurture young talent. The juniors can register with Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) for Sh1,000, which grants them access to play at any golf club in the country.