Gilbert Maina carded an impressive 74 gross off handicap 4 to claim the overall title at the Karen Country Club qualifying leg of the 2025 NCBA Golf Series held on Saturday, June 14, 2025.
In the ladies’ category, Koki Muia (handicap 12) emerged the Overall Gross Winner after returning a score of 81.
This marks her first win in the Series, having competed in the Karen leg three times.
“I had the best day on the course today. The weather was great, I had supportive teammates, and everything just came together. This is my third time playing in the NCBA Series and my first win. I’m really looking forward to the finale,” said Muia.
Muia is hoping to replicate the heroics of clubmate Sarah Nyareru who won this leg last year and went on to emerge as the winner during the finale at the Muthaiga Golf Club.
In Division One, Peter Marandu (handicap 11) claimed top honours with 40 points.
Betty Gacheru (handicap 16) topped the Division Two ladies with an impressive 42 points, while Cyllus Onyango (handicap 14) won the men’s category on countback with 41 points.
Kenneth Muraguri (handicap 26) emerged Division Three winner, also with 41 points on countback.
Nathan Gikemi (handicap 24) took home the Junior title after scoring 39 points.
Apolo Asol (handicap 26) was the Staff Winner with 37 points on countback, while Mwangi Kiragu claimed the Guest Winner prize with the same score.
Miriam Njoroge and Collins Were won the Nearest to the Pin for ladies and men respectively.
The Longest Drive titles went to Pettie Ndolo (ladies) and Mike Njogu (men).
Meanwhile, in Uganda, last year’s Junior Winner Gabriel Amani returned with a stellar performance, carding 47 points to emerge the overall winner at Uganda Golf Club.
Godwill Bindeeba (handicap 18) took the Men’s title with 45 points, while Judith Komugisha, last year’s Division One Ladies winner, secured the Ladies’ prize with 44 points.
In total, 460 golfers participated in the weekend’s double-header—260 at Karen (including 13 juniors) and another 200 at Uganda Golf Club—marking the NCBA Series’ first-ever simultaneous regional qualifiers.
NCBA Group Managing Director John Gachora celebrated the milestone:
“It’s been a wonderful day with two NCBA Series qualifiers happening in Kenya and Uganda. We had 460 golfers on the course and, notably, we’ve started supporting professionals in collaboration with the Professional Golfers of Kenya. We’re committing more resources to the growth and development of the game,’ he said.
With the Karen and Kampala events successfully concluded, the NCBA Golf Series now heads to Ruiru Sports Club for the 15th qualifying leg on Saturday, June 21, 2025.
