Silas Tanui carded a couple of pars and bogeys to claim his second career golf title after winning the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) Golf Tournament at the nine-hole Eldoret Golf Club today ahead of the 2026 World Tourism Day celebrations.
Under the theme “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism” , the World Tourism Day will be hosted in Eldoret on Sunday, September 27.
The event also provided an opportunity to showcase sports tourism in the North Rift, a region renowned for producing some of Kenya’s leading track and field athletes, marathon runners and golfers.
Playing off a handicap of 24 on the par-71 Eldoret course, Tanui returned a score of 62 nett to beat a field of more experienced golfers, despite having taken up the sport only two years ago.
Tanui started strongly on the outward nine, recording pars on the first, second, seventh and ninth holes. He dropped shots on the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth before a double bogey on the third hole, finishing the front nine with 41 points.
On the inward nine, he produced an even stronger performance, collecting pars on the 10th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th holes. He bogeyed the 11th and 14th and dropped two shots on the 12th and 13th holes to complete his winning round.
The young Tanui said he had not expected to win, but was delighted with the result.
“I did not expect to win today but with the power and authority of God, the energy that I used today gave me victory. Winning is a good thing and it was just a good day for me because in golf, there are no good or bad days. You wake up and you have good plans,” he said.
Tanui also welcomed the focus on sports tourism, saying it could contribute to the growth of golf and other sports in the country.
“Sports tourism is a good thing, especially for the Ministry of Tourism, in contributing to sports and golf growth in the country and specifically in Eldoret,” he said.
He added that he hopes to continue improving and climbing the golfing ranks.
KTB chairman Francis Gichaba has said sports tourism is key in marketing the North Rift region, which is considered as the country’s cathedral of athletics.
The chairman said training bases which have produced global athletics icons were among Kenya’s untapped tourism products.
In the KTB list of sporting activities that North Rift prides in, is paragliding in Iten and golf at the region’s major towns including Eldoret City.
“We want to highlight what makes our athletes great. Again, the North Rift region has other sporting activities including paragliding along our hanging valley and golf,” Gichaba said during the event.
The Magical Kenya counties event started in Mombasa two years ago before moving to Kisumu last year.
In other results, handicap 15 Faith Mburu finished second with 67 nett, while Abraham Kiprotich was third on 69 nett.
Former club captain Jack Tuwei won the gross title with 77, while Lawi Kibire and Kenneth Cheresek claimed the first- and second-nine titles respectively, both returning 33 nett.
Kericho-based golfer Winrose Kirui was the guest winner with 64 nett while Anil Haria, Nathan Ishaan and Kevin Limo won the nine-hole, second-nine and “piga mingi” titles respectively