Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort’s Justus Madoya in previous action

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort’s Justus Madoya returned a round score of par, after round three, to open a six stroke lead at the summit of the Entebbe Open heading into the last round of play.

Madoya who was the overnight leader coming into round three, started his round with par scores through the first three holes, before bogeying the par-4 fourth and the par-3 sixth, he however managed to recover these with birdies in the last two holes, for a turning score of par. It was a similar tale on the back nine with a bogey on the tenth, cancelled out with a birdie on the 15th, to see him return a round score of par.

His score saw him take advantage of the slip ups by the chasing pack, led by Uganda’s Herman Mutaawe and Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi, who started the day three shots behind Madoya. Herman shot a round of 3-over par, 74 to see him fall a further three shots behind the leader but still maintain his second spot on the leaderboard, at the close of the round. 

Chinhoi played a shot worse than Mutaawe, to find himself in a four way tie in third place on a gross score of 1-over par, 214, alongside Kenyan trio of Dismas Indiza, Kopan Timbe and CJ Wangai. 

The third round however belonged to Johnnie Walker sponsored Dismas Indiza, who shot a round leading score of 2-under par to see him climb six places on the leaderboard to third. The Mumias based golfer wasted no time in making his intentions clear, starting off with a birdie on the first. He would make a further birdie on the fourth, before dropping his first shot at the par-4, ninth, he replicated these scores on the back nine, for a round score of 2-under par, 69 to take his total score to 1-over par, 214.

The quartet sit three shots ahead of Uganda’s Henry Lujja, and Kenyan Duo of Greg Snow and David Wakhu, who currently hold a score of 4-over par, 217, Tony Omuli, who won his first event on the Safari tour during the Royal Nairobi Golf club leg, is in tenth place, one stroke behind.

The stage is set for a mouth watering finish at the Entebbe Golf Club, with up to six players in with a chance of winning the 2019 Entebbe Open, fourth round action is set to tee off at 7:00 AM.

Additional Information:

Safari Tour Calendar 2019/20

Event 1 Nyali Golf and Country Club 24th – 28th August 2019 (Winner: Greg Snow)

Event 2 Uganda Open (Lake Victoria Serena) 10th – 14th Sept 2019 (Winner: Madalitso Muthiya)

Event 3 Royal Nairobi Golf Club 12th – 16th October 2019 (Winner: Tony Omuli)

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

Event 5 Lake Serena Golf Resort Open (Lake Serena Golf Resort) 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.

Great Rift Valley Lodge’s Justus Madoya in action at a previous Safari Tour event.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort’s Justus Madoya stormed to the Entebbe Open leaderboard with a 6-under par 136 score after 36 holes; establishing a three-shot lead with two rounds left to play.

He shot a superb round of 66 courtesy of six birdies and a lone bogey on his card to set the perfect charge for the outright bragging rights at the tournament. On the first nine, he got off to consecutive birdies at the par-5 first and the par-3 second before holing another birdie at the par-3, sixth; with his only dropped shot of the round coming at the par-4 ninth for a total of 33. On the back nine, he played bogey-free, holing birdies at the par-4, 14^th and the par-5 15^th before sinking his last birdie of the round at the par-4 17^th for a back nine total of 33.

He went three shots clear of Ugandan Herman Mutaawe and yesterday’s leader, Robson Chinhoi from Zimbabwe, who finished the round tied in second with 3-under par 139 scores. Mutaawe shot a round of 69 courtesy of birdies at the par-3 sixth, par-5 11^th, par-3 12^th, par-5, 15^th and the par-5 18^th. He however dropped shots at the par-3 second, the par-3 16^th and the par-4 17^th.

On his part, Chinhoi had a difficult day on course; holing a lone birdie on the first nine and dropping five shots – and failing to make a single birdie – on the back nine for a score of 4-over par 75 for the day.

Madoya in action at a previous Safari Tour event.

On his part, C.J. Wangai ended the round in fourth courtesy of a 1-under par 70 round that took his total for the tournament to 1-under par 141. He had a decent outing – carding 33 on the first nine courtesy of birdies at the par-5 first, par-4. Sixth and the par-5 seventh and a lone bogey at the par-3 sixth. On the back nine, he dropped shots at the par-5 11^th, par-3 16^th and the par-5 18^th; but birdies at the par-4 14^th and the par-4 17^th saw him card a back nine total of 37.

Wangai finished the round one shot clear of Kopan Timbe, who ended yesterday’s round as the leading Kenyan at the tournament. Timbe had a tough day on the course; holing a solo birdie on the first nine at the par-5 seventh but sinking four bogeys for a first nine total of 38. On the back nine, he carded an identical score after he dropped four shots and holed only two birdies to finish the day with a level-par 142 score after the two rounds.

Meanwhile, 23 players, among them 11 Kenyans, made the Cut – which was today set at 6-over par – to play in the remaining final rounds. Justus Madoya, C.J. Wangai, Kopan Timbe, David Wakhu, Johnnie-Walker-Sponsored duo of Greg Snow and Dismas Indiza, Erick Ooko, Tony Omuli, Hesbon Kutwa, Kenneth Bollo and Edwin Mudanyi are the 11 Kenyans who made the cut to play in the tournament’s remaining 36 holes.