Kush Shah & Chand Shah from Sigona Golf Club scored an astonishing 49 stableford points at the Karen Country Club qualifying finale to lead six Kenyans to the International Pairs tournament slated for Portugal later this year.
Erick Mutai & Julius Rono from Kericho Club enjoyed a fruitful outing in the city after returning 47 points to finish joint second with another Sigona pairing of Jay Varia & Grutej Phull. Only the top three pairs qualified for the World International Pairs to be held Pinheiros Altos Golf Course / Dona Filipa Hotel in Algarve, Portugal from 26th – 30th October 2021.
The 18 holes qualifying is played in four-ball better-ball stableford format with 85% handicap allowance for each of the participating pairs.
This year the series attracted 1084 golfers from the 13 qualifiers held across the country. “We had targeted 15 clubs to participate in the qualifiers but only 13 were able to arrange for the qualifiers which is about 90% success rate. Due to the suspension of sporting activities in March 2021, we had a crash program due to reduced timelines,” Peter Kiguru, KGU chairman observed.
International Pairs is a worldwide golf competition for amateur club golfers with a recognized golf handicap and is arguably the World’s largest amateur Pairs golf competition. The event was first introduced in Kenya in 2019. Launched more than 20 years ago, the International Pairs World Final Series brings together more than one million amateur golfers from over 35 countries. The World Finals will be held over two days as a 36-hole Better ball Stableford event.
Kenya made a dream debut in 2019 when Stephen Kiaro and Michael Karanga finished third behind the pair of Tony Morgan and Kevin Kenny from the United Kingdom. The South Africa pair of Peet van Schalkwyk and Mario Strydom won the event. The other pairs that represented Kenya were Anthony Murage & James Kamenchu and Romy Sandhu & Bhamra Bilu.
In 2018, the Windhoek Lager team from Namibia was crowned The International Pairs World Champion, the first time in the event’s 20 year history that a team from Africa won.
K Shah/C Shah 49
E Mutai/J Rono 47
J Varia/G Phull 47
L Selestin/E Akinyi 46
J Ngugi/K Ndiho 46
P Warui/O Mukuria 46
L Waweru/C Wachira 46
G Wangongu/ B Wangongu 46
L Talel/W Kiprono 46
