The ninth leg of the on going Dasani Golf Gala sprung a major surprise when 9-year old Maria Vergos Paraskevi, playing off handicap 34, scored an amazing 42 stable ford points, to anchor her team to first place finish at the Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club.
Vergos,a fourth grade student at the International School of Kenya, started off on a shaky note, making a triple bogey seven on the opening hole, a quadruple bogey eight on the second and another triple on the third hole before finding her rhythm and scoring well over the remaining part of the opening nine holes.
Speaking at the prize giving ceremony, the youthful Vergos said she was disappointed not to make a single par in the opening nine holes. “I didn’t strike the ball well initially, but latter in the game I got into my stride on the back nine and made par on the 10th and 13th. I even managed birdie on the par-four 16th”
Vergos' was the best of the day and her teammates did not disappoint her either. Vi Lee scored 33 points, Mike Lee, 32 points and Bipin Soni contributed 28 points for a winning team total of 135. The winning team will now feature in the Grand Finale of the Dasani Golf Gala.
The team of Mike Njau, Dr. Tony Githuku, Dinesh Shah and Reguindin Henry finished second with 101 points. The long hitting Njau, playing off eight led the team with 36 points, Githuku added 35 points and Henry contributed an average 30 points. Shah was the weakest link with a miserable 24 points.
The individual prize went to Madvi Shah on 37 points.
The Dasani Golf Gala now moves to the nine-hole Kisii Golf Club where members of the Kisii and the Kisii Bottlers will play host.
Elsewhere at the Golf Park, Citizen TV's Tony Timase scored 40 stable ford points to registere a his first back to back win during the 8th leg of the on going Zain Media Golf Challenge.
In close second was Tony Kwalanda (K24) who beat Kipchilat Kimaru of PPSS on count back after both golfers registered 38 points.
Idris Situma of NTV who has been playing very consistently during the Challenge finished fourth on 35 points while Charles Kerich of the Star wrapped up the top five finishers.
In the ladies category, Betty Muindi of the People Daily continued her dominance with an impressive score of 29 points to finish on top.
For the first time, the event deviated from the stroke play to the more technically challenging stable ford form of play.
Steven Omondi
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