Royal Nairobi Golf Club gets ready to host Shield over Easter

The Royal Nairobi Golf Club will host the 99th Edition of the Tannahill Shield tournament from March 23 to April 2.
Regarded as one of the most prestigious amateur golf events in sub–Saharan Africa, the tournament will bring together the best amateur players from nine teams from Nairobi, Mombasa, and the Western region of Kenya to compete for the coveted Tannahill Shield.
“Unlike other golf events, the Tannahill Golf Tournament is played by teams, instead of individuals, of amateur golfers from various clubs who are keen to showcase their golfing skills and team spirit whilst enjoying the company of other competing golfers,” said Royal Nairobi’s golf captain Richard Owino.
This year’s participating teams include Royal Nairobi Golf Club, Muthaiga Country Club, Karen Country Club, Vetlab Sports Club, Railway Golf Club, Western Kenya, Mombasa Golf Club, Limuru Country Club and the defending champions Sigona Golf Club.
“As the defending champions, we have been hard at work in our practice sessions to see to it that we retain the winners’ title two years in a row. Its game on for us,” remarked Sigona Captain, Pratik Sanghrajka.
Aside from the main tournament which will be held from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, there will also be seniors and junior competitions. Firstly, the Senior Tannahill Tournament will be held on the morning of Monday and Tuesday, 25th and 26th March where the seniors from Muthaiga Golf Club will try to defend the title they have won the past two years. The senior Tannahill is open to golfers over the age of 55 years.
There will be a Junior Tannahill where youngsters from Muthaiga Golf Club will try to defend the title they won last year. The junior tournament will be held over two days, Monday, April 1st, and Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024. The tournament will be held after the main tournament to accommodate juniors who will be doing exams the week before the tournament.
The Tannahill Shield is the brainchild of Major Arthur Tannahill and was inaugurated in 1924 as an annual event when the general committee of the then-Nairobi Golf Club invited teams representing Mombasa, Nyeri, Kiambu Nakuru, and Muthaiga to participate in the tournament.
Each club will face off against the others in a series of matches with teams comprising four male pairs engaging in three-way foursome Matchplay over 18 holes on Friday, 36 holes on Saturday, and a final 18 holes on Sunday. Victories earn teams two points, ties garner one point and losers yield no points. The team with the highest accumulated points over the three days will claim the coveted Tannahill
Shield, a symbol of excellence in Kenyan Golf. The event concludes with a formal Sunday luncheon and prize-giving ceremony marking the culmination of this historic competition.