KIMANI TAKES EARLY LEAD AS THE 5TH LEG OF KCB GOLF TOUR TEED OFF AT THE KIGALI GOLF CLUB
LONG HITTER: Mumias pro golfer Dismas Indiza follows his tee shot at the Kigali Golf Club on the first round of the 5th Leg fo the KCB Golf Tour. He finished the first round tied on position five.
By JAPHETH KAGUNDU in Kigali
Vet Lab’s Ali Kimani displayed outstanding golf afterhe sunk six birdies to romp home 5 under par 67 taking the lead on day one ofthe KCB Rwanda Open in Kigali Golf Club, Rwanda.
Ali, who teed off at 9am (Rwanda time) in the company of Ethiopia’s Gabriele Haile and Rwanda’s EmanuelRuterana, only dropped a shot on par four hole seven to upstage fellow elitepros from the region.
Surprisingly, Ali has never pared the famous hole seven for the three years he has played at the course. He drove to the trees, laid up, hit a third shot with a wedged but two putted for a bogey. Ali who attributed his win to his good swing, embarked on the outward nine with a par followed bytwo birdies on holes two and three.
He then pared the fourth, fifth, eighth, ninth, dropped a shot on the seventh but recovered with a birdie on hole six to finish 2 under par 33 in the outward nine. At the inward nine, Ali continued with the streak of pars on the tenth, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth. In addition he fired birdies on the eleventh, seventeenth and eighteenth to propel his score to 3 under par 34 on the inward nine for atotal of 5 under par 67 in the four- day event of the KCB East African Golf Tour.
Following closely was Rwanda’s Emmanuel Ruterana who showed signs of staging a tough challenge after he brought home 3 under par 69 in the now renowned KCB regional elite golfers event. Ruterana, who was playing at home never dropped a shot in the scenic par 72 course in the middle of Kigali, Rwanda.
At the first nine, he pared all the holes except for hole six where he sunk a birdie to collect 1 under par34. At the back nine, he repeated the same feat of pars on all holes with the exception of a birdie on hole seventeen to amass 2 under par 35 for a total of3 under 69. Muthaiga’s Nicholas Rokoine and Greg Snow the winner of round twoof the tour both tied with 2 under par 70. Long-hitter Dismas Indiza, who recently won the KCB Bank Arusha tour faced the challenging course to return level par securing himself the fifth postion. Indiza tied on the position with left-hander Richard Ainley, Nyanza’sDavid Odhiambo, Hardeep Thethy and Rwanda’s John Baptiste all who played levelpar. James Lorum and and SA based Anil Shah finished 1 over par 73 followed byNjuguna Ngugi and Charan Thethy with 2 over par 74.
The stage is now set for stiff competition on day two of the event that attracted over 34 elite professional golfers from the region and one from Ethiopia all fighting for the Kshs 1 million prize fund on offer from KCB Bank. cgparkaoutlet cgparkaoutlet