AfricaPress-Tanzania: TANZANIAN amateur golfer Victor Joseph is set to display his skills against top golfers when Kenya Open Championship 2021 tees off today at the Karen Country Club in Nairobi, Kenya.
The four-day 72-hole elite tournament has brought together over 150 top professional golfers and top African amateurs.
The annual European Tour event is back to action this year after being halted last year due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Joseph, Tanzania’s national team captain, will be the only Tanzanian golfer at the tournament meant for pros, though organisers of the event have decided to extend an invitation to amateurs to play alongside elite golfers.
Joseph, who qualified to play for the European Tour’s after winning the 2019 Kenya Amateur Open Golf Championship, told the ‘Daily News’ from Nairobi that he’s in good shape and ready for the showpiece.
He was initially due to compete at last year’s event, but a last moment cancelation of the championship, meant he had to wait for his title defence campaign.
Joseph won Kenyan Amateur title after grossing the tournament’s best score of 215 strokes to beat his closest challenger, Kenyan Samuel Njoroge by a single shot.
The Tanzanian golfer, who plays off +2 handicap, kicked off the tournament with 73 strokes in the first 18 holes before improving it with 71 strokes in the second round and returned a similar score in the final round on his way to seal the victory with 215 total strokes.
Joseph was delighted to win Kenyan Amateur title since none from outside Kenya had won it before.
The feat also saw him become the first Tanzanian to win such a title in Kenya.
Ahead of his second appearance at the elite competition, Joseph appeared upbeat, saying he is well drilled for the tough European challenge.
“I am excited to get this chance; it is my second time so it means more experience,” he said.
“First entry was always difficult, I could not perform as well as I expected, but am more focused and looking forward to representing Tanzania well this time around.”
