Mikael Kihara took a stroke lead ahead of Krish Shah who was the overnight leader after Round One as the leaderboard for the 2023 Kenya Junior Strokeplay Championship changed on Day Two of the event.
Kihara had the best score of 73 points in the second round, an improvement by four strokes from Round One, where he scored 77 points.
Krish Shah was consistent with 75 points in round one and 76 points in round two of the competition. Junaid Manji who is third on the log scored identical 79 points in Round one and two for a total of 158.
At the beginning of round 2, the cut was initially set at +45 but then it was lowered to +47 at the end of competition to accommodate the 48 players who proceed to round three on Tuesday.
Seventy-four players were fighting for the 48 places and with the adjustments in the cut, 49 players made it through after five players tied in position 45 with a score of +47.
Junior Golf Foundation president Regina Gachora explained the importance of the tournament. “This is one tournament that is part of our order of merit and it is also a world ranking tournament. The juniors who play 78 and under and are number one get world ranking points, and for the girls, 80 and under get the points,” she elaborated. She said this is one of the important tournaments in the JGF calendar.
“The Kenya Junior stroke play and the Kenya Junior Match-play championships are our signature events at JGF. We usually play in August and the quality is phenomenal. We have seen very good golf over the years because this is where their golf is tested,” explained Gachora.
This is also what JGF uses to select the Kenya junior team for various international assignments.
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