Royal Nairobi Golf club’s Eric Ooko in previous action.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Royal Nairobi Golf club’s Erick Ooko rediscovered his fine form on round three of his home leg of the Safari Tour Golf Series on Tuesday, carding a round leading score of 3-under par 69, to see him tied at the top of the leaderboard alongside Thika Golf Club’s Simon Ngige – who shot a round of 2 over par.

Ooko, who had a share of the lead after round one before crumbling in the second round, recovered superbly today to make the most of the overnight leader’s slip up. The home pro started his round in strong fashion, hitting two birdies in the opening five holes while holding par through the rest, he then hit a bogey on the par-3 sixth, before recovering immediately with a birdie on the 7th to wrap up his front nine with another bogey on the ninth for a 1-under par score.

His conservative approach in the second nine paid off as he hit two birdies – at the par-5,15th and par-4,18th – while holding par through the rest of the holes to return a round score of 3-under par 69.

Speaking after his round, Ooko expressed his delight in getting his form back after yesterday’s slip up as he looked forward to the final round, “I needed to play well today, especially after yesterday. I am happy with my performance and look forward to an even better showing tomorrow.” 

On his part Simon Ngige played a round of 2 over par, 74, after a double bogey on the par-3 13th, which he failed to recover from. The duo sits five shots ahead of the chasing pack, led by Golf Park’s Tony Omuli who played a round of par to take his gross score to 3 over par, 219, one shot ahead of Johnnie Walker sponsored Dismas Indiza who has had a slow tournament so far.

Kennedy Abuto and Amateur Daniel Nduva are tied in 5th place on gross scores of 5 over par, 221, the quartet of Golf Park’s David Wakhu, Sigona Golf Club’s Mohit Mediratta, Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s Keneth Bollo and Windsor Golf Club’s Riz Charania sit tied in 7th place, on 6 over par, 222.

Action in the final round will tee off at 8:30 AM, with the winner of the third leg of the 2019/20 Safari tour, set to be crowned at around 2:00 PM. 

The 2019/2020 Safari Tour Golf Series is proudly sponsored by Magical Kenya and Absa.

Additional Information:

Safari Tour Calendar 2019/20

Event 1 Nyali Golf and Country Club 24th – 28th August 2019 (DONE)

Event 2 Uganda Open (Lake Victoria Serena) 10th – 14th September 2019 (DONE)

Event 3 Royal Nairobi Golf Club 12th – 16th October 2019

Event 4 Entebbe Open (Entebbe Golf Club) 30th Oct – 2nd Nov 2019

Event 5 Great Rift Valley Golf Club 23rd – 27th November 2019

Event 6 Muthaiga Golf Club 14th – 18th December 2019

Event 7 Thika Greens 4th – 8th January 2020

Event 8 Sigona Golf Club 25th – 29th January 2020

Event 9 Kitante Open (Uganda Golf Club) 12th – 15th February 2020

Event 10 Karen Country Club 22nd -26th February 2020

Event 11 Tanzania Open (Kiligolf) TBC

2020 Magical Kenya Open, Karen Country Club, 12^th – 15^th March 2020.

Dismas Indiza follows the flight of his drive at a past event. He is the leading Kenyan at the 2019 Uganda Open going into the final round.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Johnnie-Walker-Sponsored pro-golfer, Dismas Indiza, played an excellent round of 9-under par 63 on day three of the Uganda Open Golf Championship, obliterating the Lake Serena Golf Resort and Spa’s course record of 6-under par, and jumping 20 places up the leader board to end the day in second place with an overall score of 4-under par 212.

On a day and date when those who are highly superstitious are wary of bad luck, Indiza had all his stars aligned for what was a perfect day on the golf course. He played a bogey-free round, sinking birdies in all but three holes on the first nine, and sinking another three on the back nine.

On the first nine, he sunk successive birdies at the par-5, second; par-4 third; par-3, fourth; and the par-4, fifth holes; before sinking consecutive birdies at the par-5, eighth and the par-4, ninth to card a total of 30. On the back nine, he sunk birdies at the par-3, 11^th; par-5, 13^th and the par-5, 17^th to card a total of 33.

His performance today was one for the books; and surely one that he needed to make to have any chance of mounting a challenge for the top spot going into the final round tomorrow. He came into the round with a disappointing 5-over par overall score from the first two rounds and needed something of a miracle to turn around his fortunes.

And a miracle he conjured.

He now heads into the final round of the 2019 Uganda Open not only as the leading Kenyan from the Safari Tour contingent, but also in great contention to defend the Uganda Open title which he won last year.

Windsor’s Rizwan Charania, who had ended round two as the leading Kenyan at the tournament, dropped down six places, to finish the day tied in 10^th place, having played a 4-over par round that undid the gains he had made in yesterday’s round. Meanwhile, Thika’s Simon Ngige had gained four places at the close of his round today, to finish the day tied in seventh place, having played a decent round of 1-under par 71 to take his total for the tournament to 1-over par 217.

Mohit Mediratta and Edwin Mudanyi dropped five places and one place to end the day 13^th and T14 respectively; while the Professional Golfers of Kenya Captain, C J Wangai, gained five places at the end of the round to finish tied in 17^th. Muthaiga Golf Club’s Greg Snow, who is also sponsored by Johnnie Walker, was a non-mover alongside Kopan Timbe with whom he was tied in 22^nd place.

Great Rift Valley’s Justus Madoya, who had gotten off to a great start at the event, dropped eight places to finish in 25^th place; while Nyali’s Njuguna Ngugi gained a single spot to finish the day tied in 26^th place. The trio of Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s Eric Ooko. Nyali’s Mathew Wahome and Sigona’s Sujan Shah, finished the round in 30^th, 31^st, and 32^nd place respectively.

Meanwhile, Zambian Madalitso Muthiya, extended his lead at the summit of the leader board by playing a commendable 3-under par round to take his overall score for the tournament to 9-under par 207; thus, establishing a 5-shot lead over Indiza in second. For the final round, he will be playing alongside Indiza; making for a great spectacle for the 2019 Uganda Open Championship finale.

The Safari Tour Golf Series, which is sponsored by both Magical Kenya and the Absa Group, is this year featuring as part of the Uganda Open Golf Championship for the first time.

Safari Tour Calendar 2019/20:

Event 1 Nyali Golf and Country Club 24th – 28th August 2019 (DONE)

Event 2 Uganda Open (Lake Victoria Serena) 10th – 14th September 2019

Event 3 Royal Nairobi Golf Club 12th – 16th October 2019

Event 4 Entebbe Open (Entebbe Golf Club) 30th Oct – 2nd Nov 2019

Event 5 Rwanda Open (Kigali Golf Club) 6th – 9th November 2019

Event 6 Great Rift Valley Golf Club 23rd – 27th November 2019

Event 7 Muthaiga Golf Club 14th – 18th December 2019

Event 8 Thika Greens 4th – 8th January 2020

Event 9 Sigona Golf Club 25th – 29th January 2020

Event 10 Kitante Open (Uganda Golf Club) 12th – 15th February 2020

Event 11 Karen Country Club 22nd -26th February 2020

Event 12 Tanzania Open (Kiligolf) TBC

2019 Magical Kenya Open, Karen Country Club, 12^th – 15^th March 2020.