Despite shooting two blanks in the third and final round, Livingstone Talel won the inaugural County Assemblies Sports Association (CASA) golf title played on nine-hole Eldoret golf course on Thursday 3rd in the 54 hole encounter.
Handicap 17 golfer started on a bad note in round three after dropping a shot in hole one par 5, parred in the second par 4, bogeyed in three and four pars 3 and 4. Shot a blank in 5th par 3 dropped a shot in 6th, 7th and 8th pars 4, 3 and 4 before dropping two on 9 par 5 in the inward nine.
The Elgeyo Marakwet board member accumulated 102 stable ford points to claim the title beating his county speaker Philemon Sabulei, the probable winner with four points of 98 stable ford points.
Just like in first nine, Talel dropped two on 10th par 4, parred on 11 par 3 bogeyed in 12th, fired a blank in 13th par 4 recovered with a par on 14th dropped two on par 3 16 before he sunk a par in 17th and bogeyed in 18th.
The three-day event was good for Talel who last weekend won the Madison golf title in Nyahururu, transferring the winning motive to the casa championships.
Playing on home turf, Talel said he used home-ground advantage, secured 39 points in round one on Tuesday before adding 31 in the second round and 32 in the last and final round for the title.
“Round one results boosted my winning ways, beating my competitor with eight points difference to 31. Following the results, my handicap dropped from 18 to 17 hence affecting the second and third rounds,” said talel.
“He (speaker) did not play well in the first round but he played well in the first and second and third rounds but day one eight-point difference boosted me for the title,” added Talel.