By DONALD WELLINGTON

Royal Nairobi’s Anil Shah sunk four birdies in the second nine to take an early lead after the first round of the third KCB Advantage Banking Golf tour that teed off today at the par 71 Muthaiga Golf Club.

Shah who ended his round on three under par 68, started brightly sinking a birdie on the par 4 hole three before dropping shots on holes five and eight to finish the first nine on one under (37). Luck swung his way in the second nine where he sunk back-to-back birdies on holes 10, 12, 13 and 18 for a three under par 31 for a total of 68.

Mumias’s Dismas Indiza who has won the last two tour events at Royal and Nyanza, found the going tough as he could only manage a three over par 74 after the first day.

Indiza cited fatigue for his poor show saying the South Africa Sunshine Tour which took place in Zambia last week took a heavy toll on him.

“The day has certainly not been well for me because of fatigue but by tomorrow I will be fine. I took part in a golf tournament in Zambia last week so the boys here have a slight advantage over me,” said Indiza who is among the favourites for the event.

Muthaiga’s Paul Thuo and John Wangae are joint second in the leader board, two shots behind Shah at one under par 70, while Nakuru’s Ajay Shah fourth on level par 71. Nicholas Rokoine of Muthaiga, Vet Lab’s Mathew Omondi who recently turned professional and Ben Simwa are tied fifth at one over par 72.

Anil Shah is confident of maintaining his lead to the final day and win the leg. He said: “I feel good about the way I played today, it’s a dream start for me so I just want to work on maintaining my composure and carry the lead into the weekend. I know you cannot win a tournament in one day but you can lose in one day so I have to take extra caution.”

Tomorrow’s round will have a cut where the top 15 players will proceed for the last two rounds where lucrative prize money is up for grabs. Nyali’s Kopan Timbe was locked out of the tournament for arriving late, arriving thirty minutes after his scheduled tee off time and consequently missed his slot. michael kors sac a main michael kors sac a main

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013 at 5:27 PM and is filed under Golf News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.