Ammon News - Wild giraffes interrupted the final round of the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, wandering down the 18th fairway, with the Vipingo Ridge golf course also a wildlife sanctuary.

It's not unusual to see animals interrupting golf tournaments - but giraffes provided quite a shock, with the Sky Sports commentator of the Ladies European Tour event claiming: "This is what I'm here to see."

According to Vipingo Ridge 's website, the course has "wildlife corridors connecting the habitats together" allowing the many different species to roam freely. They said: "Following the national concept in Kenya, these areas enable wildlife to roam around the estate, utilising the 2,500 acres.

"There also is a dedicated area with restricted human access, set aside for wildlife. This is the Vipingo Ridge Wildlife Sanctuary.… In 2020 the development joined a new programme in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS).

"This animal rescue and breeding programme returned larger herbivore species to Vipingo Ridge. These species include varied bloodline of zebra, impala, eland, oryx and water buck – as well as three rescue baby giraffes."

Shannon Tan went on to create history, becoming the first Singaporean to win on the Ladies European Tour. The 19-year-old sealed a four-shot victory - beating Italy's Alessandra Fanali - with a total of 12-under-par. "It was quite close between us until hole 16, there was only one or two shots difference the whole time," said Tan. "It was a good battle she gave me. I still stuck to my gameplan throughout. I just tried to hit every fairway and every green I can - that was my gameplan throughout the whole day and that’s how it stayed."

It was Tan's first professional win. She added: "It was a tough decision to begin with but I’m glad I made it now! It’s a good thing because juniors back home know it’s possible and that anything is possible, and it can push them a little bit and inspire them.

"I will go into every event with the same mindset and target and just trying to do my best and just control the controllables. I can’t control what other people do, but just what I can do. I will just try to stick to my gameplan throughout the season."

Fanali, meanwhille, said: "It’s been a very good week for me, I’m very proud of myself. I came into this week just trying to test my game and see where I was. I tried. I gave myself a chance but my putts didn’t really want to go in.

"It’s okay, next week is another week, and we will see what’s going to happen. A couple more putts would have dropped and it would have been a lot easier to catch up some shots on the last holes, but it is what it is. It probably was meant to be for me, but it’s fine.

"I’m very proud of my game, I’m hitting shots very well. My irons, off the tee, my short game was very good and putting was very good as well. I’m very happy, it was a good week to start the season and we will keep it for the next couple of weeks on the road."

The Mirror