Golfers descend on Kigali for KCB tour

KCB E. African Golf tour –Kigali leg June 2-5 (Kigali Golf Club) ALL eyes will be on homeboys Emmanuel Ruterana and Jean Baptista Hakizimana when the lucrative KCB East African Golf tour –Kigali leg tees off this morning at the Par-72 Kigali Golf Club. 36 professionals are in hunt for the Rwf7.5m purse at stake at the four-day event. While the overall winner gets to pocket Rwf1.4m, second and third finishers will bag Rwf1.08m and Rwf817, 500 courtesy of Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB). The prize kitty will be shared among the top 20 players.Rwanda’s surge will be led by Hakizimana who returned to winning ways over the weekend with a compelling 277-seven under par in the Burundi Open. Meanwhile, the foreign legion is led by Ugandan ace Deo Akope and the Kenyan contingent led by Richard Ainley, Simon Ngigi, Ali Kimani, Dismas Indiza, Nicholas Rokoine and Brian Njoroge. Others in contention include Brian Toolit and Dennis Anguyo. In the Arusha leg, Akope claimed the top prize while Ngigi hit the best score on the last day to finish joint second with Ainley. According to the tournament director Elisha Kasuku, only the top twenty will get to feature in the third and fourth rounds. “At the end of day two, only the first twenty will make the cut for the final two rounds,” he said before adding, “In any likely event that there is a tie at the end of the four rounds, there will be a sudden death play-off.” “This is aimed at improving the standard of our professional golfers in the region. They must work hard to make sure they finish in the money bracket,” Kasuku added.The 2010 KCB East African Golf tour is a series of eight tournaments staged in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda. This year, the KCB group has sponsored the tour to a tune of Rwf93.75million up from Rwf7.12m. The penultimate round will be held in Nakuru from June 16-17 while the grand finale has been programmed for August in Mombassa. Ends

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Golfers descend on Kigali for KCB tour