Chanelle Wangari, 14, floors rivals to lift Kabete Open title

World number-9, Chanelle Wangari is the Miliki Space-Kabete Ladies Open winner.

The 14-year-old youngster won on a gross score of 76 during the event at Vet Lab Sports Club over the weekend.

Wangari, who is also Africa’s top-ranked junior golfer, emerged tops with a front nine score of 39 with top-up of 37 from her back nine to star over a rich field of seasoned and non-seasoned 113 lady golfers who took part in the KLGU event played under medal-scoring format.

Wangari, who was among the three amateurs who participated in the just-concluded Safari Tour 2020/2021 season finale, sank a lone birdie with a string of 15 pars to secure her victory in addition to winning the Longest Drive prize.

The tournament was presented by Miliki Space, Crown Paints, Sense of Africa, EABL, Farmers Choice and Friends of the Lady Captain (Dr Susan Ngure).

The tournament’s dress code was white and orange on the course and monochrome at the presentation luncheon.

Playing of handicap 5, Wangari birdied the first, a par-four after finding the green on regulation as she drained a downhill left-to-right 9-foot birdie putt.

Bad shot decision cost her on the second and third holes from where she made two costly bogeys before making amends on the next three holes with back-to-back pars.

Off the deck on the seventh, Wangari pulled her tee-shot to the left into the woods from where she found the green on her fourth shot before two putting for her third bogey.

On the par-three eighth, which plays 157-yards, she hooked a 7-iron slightly to the left of the fringe leaving herself with an up and down chip-shot, for a 6-foot putt that she bogeyed. She wound up her front with 3-over 39 after parring the ninth.

Wangari then dialled in a 8-iron approach to set herself for a firm 45-foot birdie putt that lipped out for par on the 10th. She then inked four more straight pars on the subsequent, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th holes.

She laid up her tee-shot, 105-yards to the green, from where she hit a full pitching wedge that had strong back spin rolling down and out of the green.