Improving local golfers made to wait to break jinx

By JAMES WAINDI

Kenyan players will have to wait for another year to try and break the Kenya Open Golf jinx after they failed to end the drought at the 44th edition of the tournament at the par 71 Muthaiga Golf Club.

This time there was an improvement as a total of six locals made the cut to play to the final day of the competition, compared to last year when only two made the cut and they called for more tournaments with the magnitude of the Kenya Open to enable them give the tour players a run for their money.

Sunday, Dismas Indiza and Brian Njoroge finished as the best placed locals tied on 21st position on two under par 282.

Sigona’s Ganeev Giddie tied 26th on one under par 283, while South Africa-based Stefan Andersen tied 30th on level par 284, despite being on three under going to the sixth hole Sunday and Muthaiga’s Nicholas Rokoine was tied 41, finishing on one over par 285 and Royal’s Anil Shah was tied 55th on four over par 288.

MESSED ME

"Today I played well, but Sunday’s round messed me up that I could not recover. At five under on the second day, I could easily have matched the winners today and probably win the event, but I tumbled on the third day," said Indiza.

He added: "Generally I can say the tournament was a success, because I made the cut for the first time in almost three years. Today my putt and chipping was not very good and I will need to work on them before my next tournament."

Indiza Sunday started with a bogey on the par four first hole, dropped another shot on the par four sixth hole but recovered with birdies on the par five seventh hole and par four ninth for a score of 36 in the first nine.

In the second nine, he started with a birdie on the par five 10th, sunk another one on the par four 12th, before dropping a shot on the par three 16 for a score of 34.

Njoroge played two over on the final day, dropping two shots on the par three hole 13 as he was followed by a huge group of fans.

He also lost shots on the par four third and eighth and sunk birdies on the par five fourth and par four 15th. He went to the finals round on four under.

"If we play more big events, I see a Kenyan winning the open soon. I believe I was unlucky today," said the Vet Lab player.