Paratore-led team wins Pro-Am tourney

The team of Italian pro Renato Paratore and his amateur partners A. Addison, C. Addison and G. Recizac produced an impressive score of 92 points to win the Magical Kenya Open Pro-Am tournament at the par 71 Karen Country Club course on Wednesday.

They beat the second-placed team of Frenchman Clement Sordet and amateurs Peter Wambugu, Joe Kihanya and S. Nduati by four points. The team carded 88 for the second place.

The third prize was decided on countback between the team of former Kenya Open champion Hayden Porteous, who played along with N. Muturi, Kenya Open Golf Limited chairman Peter Kanyago and T. Ole Kina, and that of professional Ricado Gouveia, who played along with D. Sifuna, M. Murithi and P. Shah.

To complete the prize list was the was the team of pro Robert Macintyre and amateurs D. Muchira, G. Butacci and John Kibosia, who carded 85 points.

They won after a five-way countback with among others, the team of South Africa’s Erik van Rooyen, who played with R. Patel, T. Van Rooyen and Vincent Wangombe, as well as the team of Hugo Leon Amos Kimunya, C. Ojiambo and A. Njoroge.

A total of 52 professionals including 13 local pros teamed up with a field of 156 amateurs for the event, which was a curtain-raiser for the main Magical Kenya Open, which gets under way on Thursday from 7.20am with a field of 144 players including 20 Kenyans and one Ugandan player.