Muthaiga’s Greg Snow and veteran Dismas Indiza aka ‘Baba Yao’ will for the umpteenth time lead the country’s onslaught at the forthcoming Barclays Kenya Open which returns to Muthaiga Golf Club next month.
Also making the final team of 23 are the Simwa siblings Nelson and Boniface as well as South Africa-based Stefan Andersen.
Snow topped the three legs dubbed “Road to Kenya Open” qualifiers which started at Sigona, then Vet Lab before culminating at Muthaiga at the weekend. Snow will be looking to make the cut after missing out on the same last year. The qualification events picked 18 golfers who now join the four automatic qualifiers.
The four are Indiza, Brian Njoroge, Simon Ngige and Andersen, who didn’t score points at the qualifiers. Anderson was handed the slot due to his current form while the other three were the only Kenyans who made cuts at the Kenya Open last year.
Winner of the Sigona leg Riz Charania made the team despite not playing at Muthaiga as he had enough points to see him through.
Charania, who is the resident professional at Windsor qualified 13th.
Also in the team is the newly appointed Nyali resident pro, N.M. Ngugi formerly of Railways, Nichols Rokoine, who qualified 8th, Justus Madoya of Great Rift Valley Resort and Sigona resident pro John Wangai who qualified fifth.
“It’s been an exciting three events, which saw us tackle a total of 108 holes. This is not that bad considering that we have many more build ups prior to the Open. We will strive to make cuts at the Open and chase the elusive win. Snow is playing really well at the moment and so is Stefan. Indiza has always been in good form and so let’s wait and see,” said Wangai who is also the Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) captain. Jacob Okello is back in the team after qualifying third.
Golf Park’s Okello, is indeed the most successful Kenyan pro after losing the 1998 edition in the play-offs.
“The team is a composition of young and veteran pros. It’s exciting to see Okello still going strong. Snow and Stefan are the youngsters,” added Wangai.
The 23-man team will play in Jamii PGK Masters and the inaugural KCB Karen Masters next month.
Other notable players in the team are David Opati aka Par 3 of Windsor, the new resident pro at Muthaiga Nelson Mudanyi and former Goty star Tony Omuli.
Mathew Omondi and David Wakhu of Golf Park qualified second and fourth respectively. All the big names made it to the team save for Eric Ooko of Royal who finished 20th in the qualifiers and missed out a slot by a whisker.
How they qualified for Kenya Open: Greg Snow 105.5 points, Mathew Omondi 97, Jacob Okello 95, David Wakhu 93, CJ Wangai 91, NM Ngugi 89.5, David Odhiambo 88.5, Nicholas Rokoine 87, Justus Madoya 86, Kopan Timbe 86, Boniface Simwa 85, Nelson Simwa 83, Rizwan Charania 79, David Opati 76.5, Nelson Mudanyi 73.5, JW Karanja 72.5, Tonny Omuli 72.5, Anil Shah 71.5, Richard Ainley 71.5
Automatic qualifiers: 20. Dismas Indiza, Bryan Njoroge, Simon Ngige and Stefan Andersen.