Tarus leads side to glory in Johnnie Walker series

Golf Park’s Aisha Duba during the KLGU lady Chairman prize tournament, on Saturday. [Maarufu Mohamed, Standard]

Felix Tarus’ quartet team of Peter Maritim, Paul Mwangi and George Njoroge brought a combined score of 114 stableford points to emerge the overall winners of the Johnnie Walker Golf tournament series at Eldoret Sports Club, on Saturday.

The Eldoret leg is the seventh in the Road to Gleneagles Johnnie Walker golf series.

Over 130 golfers drawn from Eldoret, Kitale, Nandi Bears and Kakamega golf clubs battled for glory.

Among them were Elgeyo Marakwet County Governor Alex Tolgos, Kenyan High Commissioner to India Willy Bett, and former long-distance runner Moses Tanui.

The day-long 18-hole tournament saw the team of Tom Mutei, James Waweru, Charles Nganga and John Kibosia return a combined score of 113 stableford points to claim the first runner-up position, a point behind the leaders.

The team of Nathan Kitiwa, Evance Manono, Irene Brooker and Joseph Akhonya booked the third slot with a combined score of 111 stableford points.

Peter Maritim won the Men’s Category on 46 points while his closest challenger was Franklin Kipyator, who posted 41 points to claim the runner-up position.

In the Ladies’ category, Mani Sagoo posted 39 points to triumph, while Irene Brooker with 38 points, was the runner up.

“I am happy to have interacted with many golfers today through this competition and I thank Johnnie Walker for bringing this event to the North Rift region. Golf requires a lot of practice and this tournament served us with that opportunity,” said Tolgos.

Eldoret Sports Club captain Nathan Torerei said they had a good field with large numbers of players and the weather was also favourable.

“We had no hiccups throughout the day. I can therefore say the event was hugely successful and for that, we thank EABL for this opportunity,” said Torerei.

After the Eldoret event, focus now shifts to Kericho Golf Club for the eighth leg of the series, which will be played on February 19.

The top three winning teams join the list of players who will proceed to the next round of the series, dubbed the Eagles Round to be played in Muthaiga.