All Star Field to Contest Nyali Open Tourney

An all star field of 97 players is now set to tackle the windy Nyali Golf and Country Club course at the Mombasa northern mainland for this year's Nyali Open championship being sponsored by Safaricom limited.

The field, which includes 21 Tanzanian golfers, is probably the best to have contested in this grand finale of the 2006 national calendar. At least 67 of them are playing off handicap nine and under with 15 players in the handicap one and under category.

It will however be a battle between Kenya and Tanzania and probably an East African Challenge Cup repeat show for the two national teams as all their top team players are drawn to play. They will be vying for the Nyali Open trophy plus points towards the Kenya Golf Union (KGU) Golfer Of The Year title and the 2007 national team selection for Kenya players.

Infact the only member of the national team missing is junior champion Stefan Andersen who is away in Zimbabwe along with Vet Lab's Ganeev Giddie for the Zimbabwe Junior Open.

Top seeded player Nicholas Rokoine of Muthaiga who has had an excellent season, winning five titles which include Kenya's two majors the Amateur Matchplay and Strokeplay championships, is out to make a treble with the GOTY title.

He currently leads the series with 120.2 points and is well ahead of the second placed player Simon Ngige of Thika with 60.5. Whether he wins or not at Nyali this weekend Rokoine is set to be to crowned Kenya's number one amateur player.

Challenging Rokoine for the Nyali title besides national team colleagues Francis Kimani, Paul Thuo, Nelson Mudanyi, John Kagiri, Simon Ngige and Greg Snow, will be defending champion Samuel Kahindi of Leisure Lodge who leads the Coast challenge with leading Coast players who include Hiten Kumar also from the Leisure Lodge, and home players Musa Odada, Tony Mbote, Terry Kaguta and Erfan Elias.

Leading the Tanzanian Challenge will be Frank Michael, Philip Mwakalobo, and Saleh Yasin all handicap one players from Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club. The Tanzania line-up also includes Rajab Idd, Geoffrey Leverian, Shaban Omari and Bryson Nyenza. The format as usual will be 54-hole strokeplay with 36 holes to be played tomorrow and the final round on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Kiambu Golf Club chairman S.K. Mwaura who has also been the junior golf convenor at the club for years, will host the Chairman's prize which has attracted the sponsorship of General Motors, AAR and Kenya Shell who are the leading sponsors. The event will be held over two days for the first time with a field of 130 expected to battle it out. Mwaura says arrangements have been put in place to make ensure all players finish. The rough has been cleared with tight marshalling to be effected. One of Mwaura's highlights as chairman was the opening up of the course to Ndumberi club members whose handicaps are being ratified at Kiambu since Ndumberi has no course rating. The Club has also fostered six juniors from Ndumberi who have been performing well in club and national events.