By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Kenya Railway Golf Club’s Samuel Njoroge weathered through tough and nervy three-holes playoffs to floor Zimbabwe’s Visitor Mapwanya and the Great Rift Valley Golf Resort’s Justus Madoya to clinch his first ever Safari Tour golf series title at the par 72 Karen Country Club on Wednesday afternoon.

The three big guns were tied on seven under par total of 281 after the 18 holes thereby sparking need for a play-off at holes 10, 11 and 12 to determine the winner in front of a cheering crowd that had not witnessed a playoff in a long while.

Commenting on his game that had ups and downs leading to a tie thanks to a birdie in the 18th hole to place him firmly in the race for the title, Njoroge said “This is my first title win in the Safari tour series and it feels good. I have been hungry to win, I have worked extra hard and I thank God for  this title. I was under a lot of pressure when we were headed for the playoffs but I told myself to calm down and be ready to accept whatever results would pop up. The greens were good, the ball was rolling well, fast and it was holding the ball so i enjoyed playing at Karen country club and my plan for this season is to finish strong. Come the Magical Kenya Open I want to play well and so far so good and I believe I will move to the top.” Samuel Njoroge told People Sports.

The closest Samuel Njoroge has come to winning a Safari tour title he was beaten twice in 2021 by junior amateur Taimur Malik at Sigona and by Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi at Royal Nairobi Golf Club and a second place finish in the Uganda Open summarizes his past failed attempts.

As a result of the win at Karen Country club, Njoroge earned Ksh300,000 in a competition his coach John LImb was headed for better prospects but he triple bogeyed the 15th hole and dropped crucial points on the final day where he was first on the leader board.

During the first hole of play-off at the 10^th hole, Samuel Njoroge drove about 60m from the green but missed the birdie to pick up a par while Visitor Mapwanya from Zimbabwe birdied the hole after a brilliant chip on from the right trees. Justus Madoya on his side chipped a shot but unfortunately missed a par by just a foot.

While it was all level at the 11th hole after all the three parred the hole, the 12th hole was to be the determinant and Mapwanya lost his cool to bogey the hole while Justus Madoya had over driven the hole but came out with a par. Njoroge on his end managed a two-footer birdie that declared him as the winner At the 11^th, they all parred the hole. At the 12^th Mapwanya drove to the right trees, over chipped the green to bogey the hole, while Madoya who had over driven the hole made a par, Njoroge made a two-footer birdie to emerge the winner.

Second placed Justus Madoya lamented on how he failed to birdie the decisive 12th hole but promised to return stronger when the final leg returns this weekend at the par 72 Muthaiga golf club. “I had a good take off on the last hole but I was not very lucky to drop it in for a birdie and now my focus shifts to the Muthaiga tour, I hope to return in a better form and fight for the title. All the same my golf has been good this week”.

Zimbabwe’s Visitor Mapwanya congratulated Samuel Njoroge “I gave it my very best, but probably luck was not with me, but I must congratulate Njoroge for his first win’’ said Mapwanya.

During the regular round, Madoya had birdied the third, sixth and 12^th holes but dropped shots at the 10^th and 17^th and missed a birdie at the 18^th which he needed to win the event on eight under.

Justus Madoya had closed the round on one under 71, while Mapwanya who made a total of four birdies in his bogey-free round wound up with 68, same with Njoroge had also shot four under 68 despite dropping a shot on the sixth and 17^th.

Madoya and Mapwanya took home Sh180,000 each while the duo of Ronald Rugumayo of Uganda and Zambia’s Sydney Wemba tied at position four on six under par 282.

Home player John Limb who apart from the eight at the 15^th hole, had also dropped shots on the sixth and seventh, and 13^th, 14^th, 16^th and the last hole for three over par 75, to drop to sixth place on four under par 284.

A total of 72 players had been listed to play in the tournament where players were drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Rwanda. However, only 21 made the second round cut. The final leg of the tour where the top eight Kenyans and two regional players will qualify for the Magical Kenya Open at Muthaiga Golf Club from March 9 to 12, is set for Muthaiga next weekend.

The leader board;

Samuel Njoroge 71, 70, 72, 68= 281

Justus Madoya 70, 72, 68, 71=281

Visitor Mapwanya (Zim) 71, 68, 74, 68= 281

Ronald Rugumayo(Ug) 70, 72, 72, 68= 282

Sydney Wemba(Zm) 71, 72, 70, 69= 282

John Limb 70, 69, 70, 75= 284

Celestin Nsanzuwera(Rw) 69, 73, 72, 71=285

Mike Kisia 72, 70, 73, 70=285.

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2023 at 10:41 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.