Long hitting Dismas Indiza battles to victory

Dismas Indiza [Maarufu Mohamed, Standard]

Long-hitting Dismas Indiza won the final leg of the Road to 2019 KCB Masters golf tournament at the par 72 Royal Nairobi course in Nairobi yesterday.

The Mumias golfer, who was the day two leader, carded a round three total of 214 gross to claim victory in the tournament that attracted 36 local professionals.

Indiza who was placed third in day one on Wednesday with a level par 72 gross, carded a one-over par 73 gross in the second day and rounded up the final leg on a super two under par 70 gross to lead the board.

“I’am excited to be back at the top after being away for a while and I will practice hard for the forthcoming Karen Masters,” Indiza said.

Indiza walked home with the winner’s prize money of Sh110,000 out of the prize fund of the total Sh640,000 shared by the rest of the top leaders.

Sigona’s Charles Wangai and Muthaiga’s Greg Snow tied for the second place on a round total of 218 gross, four strokes behind the lead.

The professionals drawn from across the country played the 54 holes strokes play tournament that kicked off on Wednesday.

Professional golfers of Kenya will select 27 of them who will play in the forthcoming 2019 KCB Karen Masters slated from June 27-30 at the Karen Country Club. 224 amateurs will be in action today.

The overall winner, men’s winner, lady winner, staff winner, guest winner and wildcard winner will make the last batch to earn automatic tickets to play in the 2019 KCB Karen Masters Pro-Am slated for June 26.

Royal Nairobi resident professional Charan Thethy said the bumper entry at Royal was a clear indication on how popular the KCB series has been over the years.

“We thank KCB Bank for choosing Royal as their venue of choice for the last qualifier of the Road to the Masters,” Thethy said.

But Thethy called on golfers to brace for tough course conditions due to the current unfavourable weather.

“The course is playing long at the moment. The roughs are really thick, meaning precision golf will be key. Whoever wins under these conditions will honestly be a worthy winner,” he said.

Notable players at the course today include the reigning Sunset Champion Caesar Handa, handicap six Joshua Ichangi, Joshua Kogo, Njoki Nguku, Kobi Gaturamu and Abna Onsomu and Royal’s finest Jay Sandhu who is also in the mix.

This year’s KCB Road to Karen Masters’s series has been to Sigona, Nakuru, Nyali, Thika and finally Royal Nairobi.