Lejirma vanquishes Odongo to win hat-trick at Njoro Country Club

John Lejirma whitewashed Amos Odongo to win his third consecutive Ronald Marshal and Toby Gibson title at the Njoro Country Club on Sunday.

The two players from Royal Nairobi Golf Club and Golf Park faced tough competition from their challengers in all eight qualifying matches over three days on the challenging and unforgiving course.

Some big names fell by the wayside in the knockout stages, blaming their lack of feel with their stroke on the unreadable greens.

Those who didn't make it past the group stages included Naomi Wafula, Sammy Mulama, Felix Dusabe, John Koina, Carl Wambasi, and Isaac Makokha.

En route to the finals, Lejirma, who is also the Captain of the Kenya Amateur Golf Championship KAGC was up against John Kamaisi of Nakuru Golf Club, who was equal to the task as he held in a seesaw semi-final, which wound up 3/3 in favour of Lejirma.

The other semi-final match pitted Elvis Muigua of St Andrews - Ndumberi Golf Club against Amos Odongo from Golf Park, which again was an epic battle as the two pushed each other to the limit and ended their round all square after the 18th hole to force a playoff.

Odongo won the hole after draining a 25-foot eagle putt to dampen Muigua's hopes as he had set himself for a four-foot birdie putt.

In the thrilling final, Lejirma started strong, winning the opening hole, and remaining all-square on the second and third holes. He took the lead by winning the fourth hole and was 2-up by the ninth.

He never looked back as Odongo's energy reserves ran out and sat down briefly on the fairway as Lejirma chipped his second shot onto the green on the par-four 13th hole.  

Taking the next hole to seal his victory on the par-three 15th at 4-up with 3/2.

In the third-place playoff, Muigua outshone Kamais 1-up. "It's beautiful to successfully defend this title and creaming it with a hat trick," Lejirma said. "My stamina played a key role in all this, thanks to the time I have been putting into my gym sessions."

"My focus shifts to Nakuru with my goal being to beat my nemesis, Michael Karanga, especially after narrowly missing a win at the Kiambu Open a fortnight ago," he added.

Outgoing Kenya Golf Union KGU Chairman, David Ndungu, who graced the prize-giving gala, announced that the union will soon be kicking off the inaugural Kenya Swing Tournaments in July, comprising three flagship events: the Kabete Open, the Kenya Amateur Matchplay Championship and the Kenya Amateur Strokeplay Championship.

"These tournaments are the majors in our KAGC series, and we strongly encourage our elite amateurs to diarize these dates and begin their preparations," Ndungu stated.