The hunt for points in the 2011 begins this weekend with the Mount Kenya Championship at the nine-hole Nyeri Golf Club where a field of 59 was drawn for the event being sponsored by the club.

The draw for this year’s tournament which is the first one in the Kenya Golf Union Golfer of The Year (GOTY) series, appear to have been done before the country’s top amateurs had confirmed their participation.

None of the leading golfers appears in the draw though most of them are reported to be heading to Nyeri for tournament where eight points will be at stake for the overall winner towards the GOTY series.

One of the top amateurs heading for Nyeri is defending champion Boniface Simwa from Vet Lab Sports Club. Simwa wound up the 2010 season with an impressive victory in the Nyali Open at Nyali Golf and Country Club Mombasa.

Early this month, Simwa and his partner Ali Orende gave their club its first Nairobi District Foursomes title. He has been in great form and he is certainly the an to watch in Nyeri this weekend.

Turned professional

Missing in Nyeri will however be Golfer of The Year 2010 champion Sullivan Muthugia from Thika Sports Club.

Muthugia turned professional soon after the Nyali Open and is among those battling it out at Thika Sports Club this weekend in the first leg of the KCB East Africa Golf Tour.

Meanwhile the lady golfers also start their 2011 Golfer of The Year calendar with the Sigona Ladies Open at Sigona Golf Club this weekend.

The series, sponsored by Basco Paints for the third year running, the event which marks its 30th anniversary this year, is open to all the lady golfers playing off handicap 35 and below.

It has attracted over 100 players who include the winner of the trophy for the past two years Vet Lab’s Mary Karano who is also the GOTY champion.

She will be challenged by among others Anjily Shah, Florence Maina, Jane Njoroge, Sarah Otolo, Agnes Wanjiru, Sigona lady captain Priya Shah and youngster Naomi Wafula from the Rose Naliaka Academy.

Basco Paints managing director Kamlesh Shah said Basco Paints was keen to support golf among ladies which is not as popular as the men’s.

He added that Basco Paints is engaged in long term sponsorships so as to create continuity and enable a greater impact hence the sponsorship for the third year running.

Courtesy NMG.

 

Real Madrid's Emmanuel Adebayor celebrates after scoring against Sevilla during their Spanish King's Cup semi-final second leg soccer match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid February 2, 2011.

 

 

 

 

MADRID - Emmanuel Adebayor sparkled on his home debut for Real Madrid on Wednesday, netting a superb volley and earning the epithets "ruthless" and "cool-headed" from a beaming club director general Jorge Valdano.

 The lanky Togo striker, who has joined on loan from Manchester City until the end of the season, played the final 10 minutes of Real's 2-0 King's Cup semi-final win over holders Sevilla that sent them through to the final 3-0 on aggregate and a meeting with great rivals Barcelona.

 Adebayor was scythed down by Sevilla defender Sergio Sanchez moments after entering the fray before he controlled a Lassana Diarra centre on his chest in added time and lashed the ball in on the volley from close range.

 

 He ran to the corner flag and threw himself to the ground in celebration before being mobbed by Cristiano Ronaldo and the rest of his team mates.

 

 "For a lad who is playing for the first time in the Santiago Bernabeu in the Real Madrid shirt, the first time he touches the ball 'poom poom' and that's that," Real coach Jose Mourinho said at a news conference.

 

"It's fantastic as well for his confidence," added the Portuguese, who had pushed Real to bring in another striker following a long-term injury to Argentina forward Gonzalo Higuain.

 

 Former Argentina international Valdano was equally pleased with Adebayor's home debut.

 

"There is no better way to present yourself to the Bernabeu," he said in a television interview.

 

"He showed a cool head and ruthlessness. It will give him confidence."