Tannahill Shield postponed as virus continues to bite

Royal Nairobi Golf Club “RNGC”, Kenya’s oldest golf course, has announced the cancellation of the 2020 Tannahill Shield also referred as the Easter Tournament.

Club chairman Charles Omondi said the event, which was scheduled for next Friday, had attracted 10 teams. The Shield was won by the hosts last year.

“As it stands now, the 2020 Tannahill Shield stands cancelled for this year, unless the 10 teams feel that at a certain time during the year, they can spend a Friday afternoon and the weekend to play the Tannahill Shield," said Omondi.

“As a golfing fraternity, we never anticipated the impact of Covid-19 pandemic which caught the world by surprise and resulted in the imposition of very stringent measures by many governments, to check and control the spread of the virus. These measures have resulted in the cancellation of many sporting events globally, including here at home. When the Magical Kenya Open was cancelled, it was only a matter of time before we took the bold decision of doing the same for the Easter Tournament," added Omondi.

The Easter Tournament was inaugurated in 1924 by the late Arthur Tannahill who donated the trophy which the teams participating in the event compete for and hence the name Tannahill Shield.

The format of play is foursomes match play over 18 holes with each of the nine teams playing a round robin over three days running from Good Friday to Sunday with the winning team being awarded the coveted “Tannahill Shield” and last team being relegated.

This is perhaps the only auspicious amateur tournament of its kind in this part of the world. In 2016, Royal introduced the “Junior Easter Tournament” to act as a curtain raiser to the main tournament and a talent hub for the main teams.

This year, the host Royal had sent invitations to the traditional eight golf clubs namely Karen – back from relegation - Muthaiga, Sigona, Vet Lab, Limuru, Railway, Mombasa and the Western Team. Windsor were relegated last year and would be out in the cold for one year.

This year, in an effort to expand the competition and in defiance of the established traditions, a new entrant, Thika Sports Club was invited to participate, thus making a total of 10 teams.

“It was our hope that we would once again see the gallant juniors from Muthaiga, Sigona, Railways, Vet Lab and Western battle it out with the current Junior Tannahill Shield holders, Royal Nairobi Golf Club. The club’s senior team has dominated the scene for a while and were looking forward to retaining the Shield for the third year running after a scare by the Western team in 2019," said Omondi.