Kenya lost the African Zone Six Golf Championships to rivals South Africa by a point as the premier event ended at the par 71 Nyali Golf and Country Club Course in Mombasa, Friday.
The homeboys, who fought hard throughout the three days to retain the trophy came behind on a total of 19 points to finish second.
The South Africans, who maintained their lead from day one, reclaimed the regional trophy on a total of 20 points.
They lost the trophy only once to Kenya last year in Gaberone, Bostswana , after a 10-year dominance and used all their skills in Mombasa to reclaim the trophy.
The homeboys needed to win all their eight matches in order to retain the trophy, but lost one to South Africa and halved to Namibia.
South Africa’s top strokeplay champion Jared Harvey, who was beaten 3-2 by Kenya’s Stefan Anderson in Gaberone last year, had his prayers answered in Mombasa Friday.
He was placed in the same draw with Anderson whom he beat by two ups to raise the stakes. This was a major loss that deprived the Kenyan team the much needed points.
"I am happy to have beaten Anderson this time after losing to him last year.. It was a good revenge," said Harvey.
The Kenyan wins came from James Karanja, who put the homeboys ahead after beating Zimbabwe’s Greg Bently 4-3, while Boniface Simwa beat Tanzania’s Abbas Adam 3-2 and Amos Kamau had easy win over Zambia’s Mirza Shiraz who withdrew.
Conceded defeat
Other Kenyans who won their matches were Jay Sandhu, who beat Swaziland’s N Tsabeze 4-3, Collins Omondi beat Bostwana’s K Dube 4-3 and Mombasa’s 15 year-old schoolboy Daniel Nduva completed the row, easily beating Mozambique’s Jose Manhica by two ups.
The South Africans won all their matches except two, which they lost to Swaziland by 2-4 and Zimbabwe by 2-3.
Kenya’s coach Ali Kimani conceded defeat and said his boys played a good game against the tough South Africans.
He said Kenya Golf Union should urgently come up with programmes to nurture young talents in preparation for the national team since most of the current members were soon turning professional before end of this year.
Tanzania and Zimbabwe shared the third slot on 13 points each, Namibia was fourth on a score of 12.5 points, ahead of Swaziland which had 10.5 points.
Bostwana was sixth on 9.5 points, Malawi and Zambia had nine points each to share the seventh place, while Mozambique was last on 4.5 points.
The Championships had attracted 12 countries in the region, but Uganda and Lesotho pulled out at the last hour.
The week-long event was organised by the Kenya Golf Union and sponsored by Simba Colt Motors and Nyali International Beach Hotel which was providing accommodation for the players and officials.
The Championship will be played in Malawi next year at the same time.
Source- Standard media group
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