Oliver Lindell in action at Muthaiga Golf Club yesterday.

By DANIELLA APIYO

History was made on the second day of the prestigious Barclays Kenya Open Tournament when Finland’s Oliver Lindell hit a historic hole-in-one at the Par-3 hole 13^th at Muthaiga Golf Club to win a Ford Ranger WildTrak.

Using his 7 iron, the 18 year old attached to Virvik Golf hit the 173 meter shot over the water hazard to claim the first ever winning hole-in-one in the history of the Kenya Open.

The first timer in the Kenya Open lands the Ford Ranger Wildtrak valued at Sh 6.9 Million, close to Sh 3 million more than the tournament winner’s prize money which is estimated at Sh 3.5 million.

“This is a great feeling. It is my first time in Kenya and playing here has been very interesting as the altitude is totally different from the other events I have played in,” expressed Lindell, adding that the hole-in-one shot helped him in improving his score.

“I did not play well yesterday as I finished at 2 over par but today was better as I recorded a 6 under par which is a score likely to make cut. I stand little chance to win the tournament, unless I make another albatross,” he added.

CMC Motors General Manager (passenger cars) Patrick Amenya expressed his delight in having the first winner of the car in 49 years. “This is great for the company and we are committing to have another car in the next edition and hope to get another winner,” he said.

On her part, head of Government Relations and Public Policy Hellen Ndeti said that she is glad that on their first year of sponsoring the tournament, history has been made.

“We have had other hole-in-one’s before but none has been on the designated hole. This is exciting for us as the organisers, history being made at the ‘home of Golf’,” Kathleen Kihanya, head of PR and sponsorships intimated.

Other than the hole in one, Lindell had picked an eagle on par five hole ten where he teed off and picked a total of four birdies and two bogeys on the course for his 6 under par 65 score. cheap air max mens cheap air max mens

Simon Ngige

By KGG REPORTER

Simon Ngige played an inspired round of 7 birdies and 6 pars as he went on to claim a total score of 67, 4 under the 71 par Muthaiga Golf course, at the end of Day one of the Barclays Kenya Open.

Ngige ended day one tied for 13^th as the best placed Kenyan, ahead of amateur Alfred Nandwa (T42) who ended on 2 under par, Riz Charania and David Odhiambo (T56) both on 1 under par. Stefan Adersen and Richard Ainley (T73) finishing the day on par.

The day however belonged to South Africa’s Jaco Ahlers, the former European Tour player blowing away the field to finish on 7 under par to finish top of the Leaderboard, ahead of Welshman Rhys Davies who shot a 6 under par.

Defending Kenya Open champion Sebastien Soderberg finished on T56 after playing a round of one under par. Kenyan hopefuls Dismas Indiza and Jacob Okello both had a bad day at the office playing rounds of 1 over and 7 over par respectively.

Greg Snow also completing a rough day on the Muthaiga course on 2 over par to place him at T113.

Day 2 action resumes tomorrow from 7:00 am with players aiming to make the CUT to play into the weekend.

Netherlands’ Will Besseling, the winner of Karen Masters last week was also impressive, posting 35 in the first nine and 32 on the back nine for a score of 4 under par 67.

Former champion Gary Boyd of England posted a similar score but would have had a better result had he not picked a double bogey on hole 12 that cancelled an eagle on hole 10 where he teed off.

Reigning champion, Swedish Sebastian Soderberg is six strokes behind the leader after picking four bogeys in his round, he, however, picked a total of five birdies to settle for one under par 70.

The field for tomorrow’s matches has, however, been reduced owing to the withdrawal of Englands Chris Lloyd, Bjorn Hellgren of Sweden who retired and the disqualification of Kenya’s Mathew Omondi who signed for the wrong score.

Leader board after Round 1:

Jaco Ahlers (SA)            -7    64

Rhys Davies (WL)         -6    65

Oscar Lengden (SWE)   -6    65

Oscar Stark (SWE)         -6   65

Jens Dantorp (SWE)       -6   65

Kalle Samooja (FIN)      -6   65 nike air max ladies nike air max ladies