The Safaricom Golf Tour makes a return this weekend for its eleventh leg at the par 73 Nakuru Golf Club.
The tournament resumes after a three-week break following the last competition in Kitale which saw home-based golfer Elly Sorobea named the overall winner after returning a total of 40 Stableford points.
“Nakuru is the fourth event being held in the Rift Valley region and in the previous three tournaments, we have experienced massive turnouts, especially from the juniors. This is a clear indication that the Rift region can produce the next generation of the country’s top golfers,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.
The Nakuru tournament has attracted over 250 golfers from courses across the Rift Region and as far as Nairobi, Kisumu, Kakamega and Kisii. The senior tournament is scheduled to take place on Saturday while the juniors’ event will be held on Sunday.
Nakuru-based 11-year-old junior golfer Peter Gathogo is among the favourites for Sunday’s juniors’ tournament after a victorious win in Kitale. Sunday’s event will also include golf clinics, which will provide aspiring junior golfers with an opportunity to learn new skills from various trainers as has been the case in the past ten legs.
The Safaricom Golf Tour has so far been to ten locations across the country namely: Nanyuki, Limuru, Muthaiga, Nyanza, Machakos, Eldoret, Karen, Nyali, Kericho and Kitale drawing over 5,000 golfers who have taken part in tournaments, junior clinics and outreach programmes.
As part of growing the sport among junior players in the country, Safaricom has partnered with the Junior Golf Foundation to tap and nurture young talent. The juniors can register with the Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) for KES.1,000, which grants them access to play at any golf club in the country.