Kenya trail Uganda in Africa Golf Championship
Dennis Maara (right) follows the progress of his tee shot from 18th hole tee, as John Lejirmah looks on during the fourth leg of the Kenya Amateur Golf Championship Series, the Winston Churchill Cup, at Thika Sports Club on April 01, 2023.
What you need to know:
- The tough course condition and the late afternoon rain saw Kenya’s team captain Dennis Maara shoot nine over par 80 while Golfer of the Year 2022 Champion John Lejirmah fired seven over par 78 while youngster Elvis Muiga brought home 83.
In Addis Ababa
Defending champions Kenya finished the opening round seven shots behind their arch-rivals Uganda, as the 2023 Africa Region Four Golf Championship got under way at the par 71 Addis Ababa Golf Club on Wednesday.
The tough course condition and the late afternoon rain saw Kenya’s team captain Dennis Maara shoot nine over par 80 while Golfer of the Year 2022 Champion John Lejirmah fired seven over par 78 while youngster Elvis Muiga brought home 83.
Kenya’s top ranked player Michael Karanga managed to post the best score in the team, a level par 71 for a team total of 229 against Uganda’s 222.
And Karanga was on under par until he dropped a shot on the 16th hole, having dropped one more shot at the short-hole-14th.
“I was cruising well until the rain started and it just disrupted my concentration, but I can assure you tomorrow will be fire," said Karanga, who started well picking up a birdie at the first hole, and one more at the fifth though he bogeyed the third and the ninth.
At the back nine, Karanga got off with two back-to-back birdies at the 10th and 11th, three putted the 14th then missed a par narrowly at the 16th.
For Maara, his driver didn’t work well particularly at the front nine where he started with an eight at the par five-first hole, recovered a shot with a birdie at the second, but that was to be the only birdie of the day as he dropped shots at the fourth, seventh and ninth, double-bogeyed the 11th, a par five, and picked up another birdie at the 12th. He however parred the rest of the holes.
“I am not going tough on the driver tomorrow as I have to recover very many shots. The course is not that difficult but if you go off the fairways then you have a big problem to recover," said Maara.
Meanwhile, spearheading the Ugandans was Godfrey Nsubuga, a regular player in Kenya’s national events, who started off the day with an eagle at the par five-first hole, birdied the second, two shots at the fourth and seventh but managed two birdies at the back nine’s 11th and 13th holes after starting the back nine with a bogey at the 10th hole.
Joseph Akana shot two over par 73 and Ibra Bagalana carded 79 for a team score of 222.
Hosts Ethiopia were third on 239, and in fourth and fifth places were Tanzania and Rwanda on 241 and 246 resctively.
This year, the event is being played on strokeplay because of the odd number after the withdrawal of Burundi, with the best of three scores per team to countback.
