Philip Shiharsy wants to make history at the Kenya Amateur Stroke-play Championships series at the Royal Nairobi Golf Club to mark the 100 years of the annual tournament.
Fresh from being named the overall gross winner on one over par 74 over the weekend during the Safaricom Golf Series at his home club Kitale, Shiharsy said that he will be trying his best to attain the maximum points seeking to play at the 2023 Magical Kenya Open.
“This is a great opportunity for me to play at the Match-play because I want to make the cut for the 2023 Magical Kenya Open. At the same time, I want to make a team that will be playing at next month’s Tanzania Open,” said Shisharsy on his way to Nairobi for the championships.
The annual tournament tees off on Thursday morning with a qualifying round where 32 top golfers will be making the cut for the tournament on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with the winner gaining automatic qualification for the Magical Kenya Open.
“With my great training, I hope I will be making the cut for the main tournament on Friday. My home club Kitale has been of great help to play in the search tournament,” added Shisharsy.
He will be the first person on the tee at 7.00 AM alongside Kerich’s Darren Chesumei and vet Lab’s Simon Kaari who won the Eldoret meeting, the Manchester Salver last November.
On Thursday, the golfers will be playing 36 holes, with the qualifying round attracting 90 golfers who will be playing in the three-ball format according to the draw released by the Kenya Golf Union (KGU).
“The qualifying round is one of the difficult ones since each one of us will be hoping to make the cut for the main tournament. Getting out of the 90-plus players is not easy,” he said.
However, he will be facing off with defending champion John Lejirma from Kenya Railways who will be playing at 7:27 in a flight that has Oscar Ikinu and Junaidi Manji.