Greg Snow, Safari tour 2020 opening leg champion at Limuru country club today.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Muthaiga Golf Club’s Greg Snow beat debutant and former amateur golfer of the year Samuel Njoroge of Kenya Railway Golf Club and Windsor’s Riz Charania by a single shot, to claim the first leg of this year’s Safari Tour at the par 72 Limuru Country Club course on Wednesday.

It was, however, a struggle for Snow who won five tournaments last season, as he started well, posting an under-par score at the front nine despite having started with a bogey at the first hole, and late bogey at the seventh.

“I played badly particularly at the back nine, I think the long wait for competitions made me a bit rusty. I missed a number of birdie chances including at the 18th where I made three putts. All the same, we are back on the course on Sunday at Royal Nairobi so hopefully I will play better’’ said Snow who birdied the second, fifth and sixth, then came the double bogey six at the par four-10th hole.

Snow who was being followed by his parents at a distance also dropped a shot at the 12th and 13th with only one birdie coming at the 16th, having made an eagle at the par five-15th, to close with a two over par 74 and to win the tournament with all rounds total of one over par 289, a score that earned him Sh105,000.

For the new-comer Njoroge who was making his debut in professional golf, he almost got off to a memorable start. He bogeyed two holes at the front nine (4th, and 7th), but birdied the sixth though it was at the back nine where he managed to pick up three birdies at the 10th, 15th, 17th for a level par 72 and a total of two over par 290 to tie with the more experienced Riz Charania who shot one under par 71 to also wind up on 290. Njoroge and Charania earned Sh63,000 each for their feat.

“I am very excited for finishing second in my first attempt, it gives me more confidence particularly for the coming events. I played well in the final round though I made some few bad putts and I will start working on my putting immediately at Royal because the greens there are likely to be different from Limuru’’ said Njoroge, a young brother of Professional Golfers of Kenya(PGK) captain John Wangai.

Vet Lab Sports Club’s Robinson Owiti meanwhile made a bogey at the 18th green after hitting his second shot to the ninth fairway. Chipped well but the ball rolled over the green. Owiti had dropped a couple of shots before then, for three over par 75 to finish the tournament in fourth place with three over par 291. This golfer has since been disqualified for playing with non- conforming clubs as per the R&A list that regulates the golf sport.

Meanwhile Golf Park’s David Wakhu who also shot three over par 75, for four over par 292, blamed his painful elbow. “Nothing worked well for me today as I was struggling to hit the ball because of the elbow. I will have to get it checked before the next event though I am still happy for a fourth place. The long wait plus carrying our own bags might have contributed in a lot of things this week and the sooner we allowed the use of the caddies the better’’ said Wakhu.

Speaking during the prize giving ceremony, Safari Tour chairman Patrick Obath assured the pros that the issues of the caddies for them is being addressed and hopefully the pros will be allowed to use the caddies in the third leg. “We are truly grateful for the Kenya Golf Union who have been spearheading the health issue guidelines with the Ministry of Health on the COVID- 19 guidelines.

The final leader board at Limuru Country Club:

1. Greg Snow 289 (74,68,73,74)

2. Samuel Njoroge 290 (76,68,74,72)

2. Rizwan Charania 290 (73,72,74,71)

4. Ganeev Giddie 292 (70,71,78,73)

4. David Wakhu 292 (70,74,73,75)

6. Mathew Omondi 293 (72, 72, 72, 77)

Greg Snow poses with the Safari Tour Trophy after winning the second leg of the 2019 tournament that was held at the Vet Lab Sports Club.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Professional action resumes on October 4 with the Safari Tour after more than six months of in activity, following the disruption of sports by the coronavirus pandemic in March.
This was announced on Friday by the Kenya Open Golf Limited (KOGL) tournament director Patrick Obath who said the Tour will have seven legs shared between Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda before the final leg in Kenya.
“We have had a break of slightly more than six months without professional golf, which means that we have lost half a season so far and it is high time we resume. Our protocols are ready and set to be approved by the government any time,” Obath said.
He added: “The Safari Golf Tour is back and we will have three back-to-back events from October 4. Then Uganda will host three events as well and Rwanda will host one, before action returns to Kenya.”
The announcement is good news to local golf enthusiasts and the professional golfers who were yarning for action since the suspension of all sports in March.
“Foreigners coming for the Kenyan events must have valid Covid 19 certificates and during the competition we will not have a lot of waiting time and the prize giving ceremony will have very minimal attendance,” Obath said.
He added: “ The tour will be used to qualify for next year’s Kenya Open Golf Championships which is part of the European Tour and where we have 10 slots. Eight of the 10 available slots will be taken by Kenyan pros, while the remaining two slots we have left open for foreign players taking part in the Safari Tour.”
Obath said the tournament organisers had changed the qualifying format as they will now look at a player’s overall performance in three Safari Tour series dating back to 2018, to pick qualifiers for next year’s Kenya Open.
“Since we didn’t have Kenya Open Golf this year and we had qualified players, it means there slots are gone, but we have come up with a new format where we will use a three-year rolling series results, where the first year will count for 10 per cent, the second year will count for 20 per cent and the third year which begins on October 4 will count for 70 per cent,” Obath said.
The 2020-2021 season of the Safari Tour is expected to have a minimum of 10 events with at
least one each played in Uganda and Rwanda. There will be a total of eight tournaments in Kenya
and each of the 10 events is expected to have a minimum prize purse of Sh1 million.
“This has been a difficult time for sports people in the world. We are grateful to the Kenya Open
Golf Limited for announcing the start of the Safari Tour. This is the best news that we as
professional golfers have received in a long time.” said John Wangai, the Captain of Professional Golfers of Kenya.