England’s Jack Singh Brar in action during the 2019 Magical Kenya Open.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

England’s Jack Singh Brar and South Africa’s Louis De Jager returned a score of 7-under par to share the lead after round one of the 2019 Magical Kenya Open, played at the Karen Country Club on Thursday.

Singh started off his round in steady fashion, not dropping a shot in the opening five holes, before turning on the style with an eagle on the par-5 sixth, following it up with a hat trick of birdies on the par-4 seventh, eighth and ninth for a first nine score of 30, 5-under par.

He kept his form going after turning with further birdies on the par-5 11th and 12th, while holding par on the rest of the holes to return a blemish free card of 7-under par, 64 for the round.

Speaking after his round, Singh mentioned how the Karen Course was different from the ones he is used to and how he managed to hit the right shots at the right time.

“Through the round I got up and down when I needed to and then I was five under through my last four – a great way to finish the round. It was my first time at this course, it is very different to a lot of the courses that we play, it’s quite quirky, and that is something which has suited me in the past, and I like it here.”

On his part Louis had a slow start, dropping two shots at the par-3 second, but recovering with birdies on the par-4 third and par-3 fourth holes. He wrapped up the front nine in great form, picking up a further four shots in the last three holes to return a score of 30, 5-under par at the half way point.

He went on to pick up further shots at the par-5 12th and par-4 13th, before faltering with a bogey on the par-3 14th, a further birdie at the 18th saw him return a score of 34, 2-under par for a total score of 7-under par 64 on the day.

Speaking on his round, De Jager mentioned how great it was to be back in Africa and how glad he was that he was playing well.

“It is always nice to be back in Africa, and when we came here on Tuesday, I felt right at home on my home continent and it felt very similar with the altitude to Pretoria which is home for me. I have been hitting it really well over the past two weeks and I did that again today, but just managed to hole a few putts too.” 

“It was a lot windier today than I am used to here, so to come away with the score that I did was really satisfying.” He added.

The two finished one shot ahead of India’s Bhullar Gaganjeet (-6) and the pair of Spain’s Adri Arnaus and Nothern Ireland’s Michael Hoey who finished on 5-under par. On what was a low scoring and windy round one at the Karen Country Club.

Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn finished the round tied for 24th, on a score of 1-under par, alongside the 2016 Kenya Open winner Sebastian Soderberg. 

Thika Golf Club’s Simon Ngige led the Kenyan players after the round, returning a score of 3-under par, 68 to place him 13th on the leader board, one stroke ahead of Mumias based hard hitter Dismas Indiza.

Round two action is set to tee off at 7:20 AM, with the field of 144 golfers looking to make the CUT to play in the third and fourth rounds.

Johnnie Walker-sponsored Dismas Indiza follows the flight of his shot on Round One of the 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Johnnie Walker-sponsored Dismas Indiza started off his 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship campaign to a flyer, finishing 2-under par 69 to leave him in fifth by the time he left the 18^th green. He started his round from the par-4, 10^th tee with a birdie before following it up with another at the par-5,11^th.

He however struggled to hole consecutive bogeys at the par-5, 12^th, par-4, 13^th and par-3, 14^th holes before holding par on the rest of the holes for a total of 37. He found the groove back on the first nine to play blemish-free to hole birdies on the par-3 4^th, par-5, 6^th and par-4, 7^th holes for a total of 32.

Speaking after the round, Indiza said: “I tried my best to play well since I started with consecutive birdied at the 10^th and the 11^th holes before struggling at the 12^th, 13^th and 14th holes; but I later calmed down and started playing well but it was generally a decent outing for me today and I felt that I don’t have much to improve on going into round two tomorrow.”

Commenting on the course conditions, Indiza said: “The course is in good shape; the fairways are a bit dry, but the greens are in very great shape. It got tricky with the wind in the morning, but I can only sympathize with the afternoon groups when the wind really picks up here.”

Indiza will be teeing off at the first tee tomorrow at 1:00pm alongside India’s Shubhankar Sharma (who finished 3-over par 74) and Spain’s Adri Arnaus (who finished 5-under par 66 to top the leaderboard as of 3:00pm on Round One).