The Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) US Kids Spring Tour fifth leg at the Sigona Golf Club proved to be a tricky affair for junior golfers with most missing their set targets for the tournaments. The tricky hilly course and the wet conditions were not a favourable combination on Sunday.
Despite the challenges, Kagame Handa playing in the boys’ 13-14 years category and Siqian Yu playing in the girls’ 11-12 years old both played an impressive one over par 73 to win their respective categories.
Kagame was in fine form in the front nine, picking two birdies with one bogey at the tricky hole five. His back nine wasn’t so smooth as he picked two bogeys at hole 12 and 14. Peter Gathogo finished second with a score of four over par 76 while Tsorav Soni was third, three strokes behind.
In the season classification, Amar Shah who finished joint fourth with Kahir Ladak with a score of 81 leads the way with a total of 111 points. Peter Gathogo who finished second in Sigona is second overall with 83 points, having reduced the gap at the top. Kagame Handa is now third with 74.5 points and can catch up with Gathogo if he wins again in the next tournament.
Siqian Yu picked three birdies and four bogeys for the impressive one over par 73. She finished for strokes ahead of Ashley Gachora in second place. Gachora was at three under at some point before dropping to five over par 77 in the end.
“In the first few holes, I was too cold to be able to like putt well, so I messed up a birdie putt and I also messed up a par putt. The greens are way faster and there are a lot of trees and obstacles, and a lot of bunkers all around the course. So it is a very difficult course,” explained Gachora.
Chloe Chiuri is still a class of her own in this category. Despite finishing 5th to collect just 10 points, she leads the group with 109 points, 29 points ahead of Siqian Yu.
The race for the girls 13-14 years is getting tighter with every tournament played. Amani Muriithi won at Sigona to collect 30 valuable points, followed by Esther Paul who collected 20 points. Randy Turi, Bianca Dave and Lael Mwangale completed the top five. Amani has now taken over the overall lead with 97.5 points. Randy Turi who managed only 15 points at Sigona drops to second with 83.5 points. Armelle Amani who picked 8 points is now third on 77 points, only seven points ahead of Esther Paul on 70