Samuel Njoroge follows his tee shot at Royal Nairobi Club today.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

When Railways’ Samuel Njoroge tees off at 8.40 am tomorrow morning at Royal Nairobi, he will be hoping for a round of golf better than the other 24 competitors in the final round of the Safari Tour series’ second leg so as to lift his maiden title in the Tour.

Njoroge, who is barely a month into playing as a professional, returned a score of three under par 69 in the third round to go tied top with a combined score of four under par 212. He leveled the field in the first round and played one under par on the second day to make cut tied second.

“I missed the title in the first leg by one shot but i am hoping to play well in the final round at Royal to maintain first place. I returned a better score in the third round after improving on my putting. I am putting well now, the course is also good and I am happy with my game,”said Njoporoge after the third round.

The 26 year old who won the Golfer of the year amateur title two years ago before turning professional this year, will tee off in the last group alongside his elder brother Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) captain John Wangai and Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi with whom they are tied with in top place.

Chinhoi made four straight birdies at the back nine of the third round, to share the lead with Njoroge, after closing the round on a three under par 69. The Zimbabwean had carried a one over par score from the front nine where he hit three back to back bogeys from the fifth to the seventh holes but a better back nine game saved the day for him.

“I made many wrong decisions in the first nine and it almost cost me a good round. I had started well picking up two birdies at the first and second holes, then pushed my tee-shot to the right at the fifth hole, came out well but missed the par. I hit my eighth iron to the bunker at the par three-sixth, came out with two to drop my second shot,” he said.

He started the back nine with a birdie after a solid driver to about 70m to the green, dropped a shot at the 12th, but made birdies at the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th to push himself to the top of the leader-board and share the lead the new-comer Njoroge.

“This course is very easy to make birdies if one makes the right decision and is at the right place all the time. Winning here will give me the confidence I need for the season and particularly after missing the first leg at Limuru” added Chinhoi.
Wangai meanwhile made five birdies but against a similar number of bogeys, to close day three on level par 72 and in third position on level par 216.
Round two leaders Eric Ooko and Greg Snow dropped to joint fourth with Kenya’s leading junior amateur Mutahi Kibugu of Muthaiga Golf Club on one over par 217.

Robinson Owiti lines his putt on the final day of the Limuru leg of Safari Golf Tour on Wednesday.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Vet Lab Golf Club’s professional golfer Robinson Owiti says he will exploit all avenues to push for his reinstatement following his disqualification from the first leg of the Safari Tour that concluded on Wednesday at the Limuru Golf Club.

After playing four rounds of golf to finish fourth behind Greg Snow, Samuel Njoroge and Riz Charania, a fellow golfer complained about Owiti allegedly using non-conforming clubs which led to his disqualification by the tournament organisres.

“We began this championship on Sunday and up until the final round was played on Wednesday, no one had raised an issue with my equipment. When the issue was raised, just minutes to the prize giving ceremony, I had my equipment inspected and the club in question was neither on the conforming or non-conforming list. The organisers then reached the decision to disqualify me,” explained Owiti.

He added: “I reached out to the local distributor who in turn got in touch with the manufacturer in Scotland and I am awaiting a response from them. I feel that the decision to disqualify me was rushed. If the response from the manufacturer confirms that it was okay for me to use the club, I  will request for reinstatement on the leader board. Otherwise, I am ready to use legal processes to have the series in its totality disqualified. This inspection would have been done on all participants before tee off on Sunday.”

The golfer lost 44 points in the race for next year’s Magical Kenya Open and Sh 52,500 in prize money. Leg winner Snow bagged Sh 105,000 while second and third place carried home Sh 63,000 each.

On his part tournament director Vincent Wang’ombe has disputed Owiti”s claim that it was just one of his clubs that was non-confoming saying their inspection of his clubs found two clubs, including one of his wedges that were not on the R&A list of conforming clubs.

“Local rules, G2, that was in effect during this competition dictate that golfers use clubs in the R&A list. The penalty for going against that rule is disqualification hence the decision. Golf is a self regulating sport and he ought to have checked that his equipment conformed to the set rules before tee off. The decision stands,” said Wang’ombe.

He continued, “He is doing the follow up with the manufacturer all by himself but i do not think that will change anything. The list of R&A approved equipment is available online to everyone. Additionally, these are not new clubs that he was using but have been around for quite some time, probably manufactured ten yuears ago. I doubt the manufacturer will be looking at having them included in the R&A list.”