United States based student Sarah Kanyereri emerged the winner of the Kenya Ladies Golf Union Muthaiga Ladies Open.
Kanyereri’s score of 74 was three better than Kellie Gachara in second and four better than Mercy Nyanchama and junior golfer Belinda Wanjiru who tied for third on 78.
Kanyereri, who went to the USA in 2019 when she was the top-ranked junior girl, could not hide her joy after being confirmed the winner at the Muthaiga golf club.
“it was a good day out there and I felt pretty relaxed. I came out to enjoy the day and luckily I did,” said a beaming Sarah.
The interesting bit is that she had no clubs of her own to play.
“The clubs I used today I borrowed from one of my friends. I left mine back in the USA because I had too much luggage and I didn’t think it was necessary to bring them,” she explained.
Kanyereri is a product of the Rose Naliaka Golf Academy, now known as the Africa Golf Programme. Her progress through the programme earned her a golf scholarship to play golf and pursue a degree in Sports management at St.Thomas University in the United States.
“Sarah is one of our poster child. She was brought into golf by Rose Naliaka, our former pro and also chair of KLGU. She(Sarah) has done exceptionally well, the fact that she has played so well is an example that marginalized girls can also be given a chance to be able to play golf. People usually think that golf is a rich man’s game. It is not really,” said KLGU chair, Jane Babsa Nzibo.
Junior golfers Belinda Wanjiru, Audrey Gachora and Kanana Muthomi finished in the top ten. Wanjiru was joint third, Audrey sixth and Kanana tenth.
“We had 180 ladies playing and it was very competitive. We have seen the elite team from KLGU and JGF playing very well and many of the juniors finishing in the top 20. This is a problem we have been looking for for many many years. We needed to be extremely competitive for who then goes to represent Kenya because whichever team goes, they will represent Kenya well in Morocco,” observed Muthaiga Golf Club Lady captain Regina Gachora who is also the president of the Junior Golf Foundation.
The Muthaiga Ladies open is a GOTY (Golfer of the year) event where those who win get points for merit that are used to select team Kenya. Moving forward, LKGU chair Jane Nzibo says they will be looking at the Junior Golf foundation to supply players for team Kenya.
“That is where the future is because we have juniors even from 14 years old. Last year in Rwanda we took Bianca Ngecu, that was her first international competition and she won. She was the best youngest player who won that competition and got a trophy for that,” she elaborated.
