By Oscar Pilipili
Timothy Kihara teamed up with Eliud Kuria, Newton Mwangi and Thomas Kimari to win the first leg of this year’s Dasani Golf Gala at the par 72 Kiambu Golf Club.
The winning team posted a joint score of 111 points to book a ticket to the tournament’s Grand Finale to be held at the Karen Golf and Country Club on September 29.
Kihara, playing off handicap 19, anchored the team alongside Kimari as they posted 38 stableford points apiece on Saturday.
Kuria, playing off 18, amassed 35 points, while Mwangi, playing off handicap 20, was the group’s weakest link as he posted 33 points.
Kihara started his round with three back-to-back pars on the first three holes, dropped a shot on the fourth hole, had double bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes with more bogeys on the seventh and eight, but leveled the ninth hole for a first nine score of 21.
In the second nine, he started poorly dropping three shots on the 10th hole, played bogeys on the 11th and 12th, but leveled hole 13 and 14, before dropping a shot on the 15th.
He recovered to level hole 16, but lost single shots each on the 17th and 18th for a second nine score of 17.
deserved win
Speaking on behalf of the winning team, Kuria said they deserved the win and vowed to repeat the same feat at the Grand Finale and qualify to play in Dubai.
“We arranged the game yesterday but we honestly didn’t know we would take the overall title today. All the four of us have, however, been playing good golf of late, in fact I won a tournament here last weekend and another one on Friday, so it is not by accident that I’m in the winning team, we hope to carry the same form to the grand finale,” said Kuria.
The runner-up team was made up of Col Julius Githiri, Julius Kinyua, Joseph Biriri and Mofart Kanyeria who posted a total score of 104 points.
