South Africa’s Cara Gorlei follows her tee shot during her second round at the 2024 Magical Kenya Ladies Open

By DANIELLA APIYO

South Africa’s Cara Gorlei carded 1- under par 72 in the second round of action at the 2024 Magical Kenya Ladies Open, to take her total for the tournament to 5-under par, 141 and into the lead as the tournament heads into the weekend. Click this link https://a.meridianbet.ke/c/C7pYjz to start gaming and stand a chance of winning big with a meridianbet.

Cara, who started the day as part of a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard alongside England’s Eleanor Givens and Lauren Walsh from Ireland, wasted little time in making her intent clear, with three birdies from her first three holes.

She would drop her first shot at the par-5 seventh, to see her card a score of 35 in the front nine. She started her back nine in almost similar fashion to the front nine, this time hitting three birdies through the first four holes, before double bogeying the par-4 fourteenth. That would be a turning point in her round as she struggled through the last four holes, with bogeys at the 16th and 18th to post a score of 37 on the back nine.

Speaking after the round, Cara Gorlei said: “Today was definitely tougher than yesterday but somehow, I managed to put in a good score after some good and bad runs during the eighteen holes.

“I started birdie, birdie, par, birdie got off to a hot start and then I had a nice little four-putt that set me back a little bit and then came in slow. To start the back nine, I had another three in a row, so that was great, but also still just came in slow; the putting was just very hot and cold.

“It took me a little while to get over the four putts that’s why I guess why I slowed down but once I started the back nine I was like come on let’s just get something going here so you just got to put it in play on this course and I didn’t do that as well as yesterday but I’m still happy with the under par round.”

Cara is a stroke ahead of 20-year-old Nataliya Gusevan, a debutant on the Ladies European Tour, who carded 3-under par 70 for the round, taking her total to 4-under par, 142.

Speaking after her round, Natalia said: “I am taking it hole-by-hole here because it is very windy and the conditions tough for us as it is pretty hot out there. I am just trying to stay in the moment, then get out there and have fun and enjoy myself.

“This is a very tight golf course with very unpredictable greens, and you just got to be in the moment and don’t let yourself down and just trust yourself trust your game and your instincts and get going.”

Speaking about her first impressions of Kenya, she said: “It is a unique place [and even though] it is hot out here, I am enjoying myself seeing all the different animals around – this is very exotic; and the food is amazing as well. I am just so happy to be out here and just playing every event on the Ladies European Tour.”

Italy’s Alesandra Fanali who had led the round at one point, is part of a four-way tie for third place alongside Japan’s Ayako Uehara, Chiara Tamburlini of Switzerland and Singapore’s Shannon Tan on overall scores of 3-under par, 143.

The round’s best score belonged to 23-year-old Samantha Bruce of the Philippines, who played a blemish free round, to post a 5-under par 68 score, courtesy of five birdies, and taking her total for the tournament to 2-under par 144; which leaves her in a tie for seventh place going into Moving Day.

The cut line was set at 6-over par,152, with a total of 67 players making the cut to play into the weekend for an opportunity to win part of the tournament’s 300,000 Euros (KShs 51,900,000) prize fund.

None of the five Kenyans playing at the event made the cut with Naomi Wafula finishing the day as the highest finisher of the lot with a 13-over par 159 score to end her campaign tied in 95th.

Jacquelyne Walter, who played a solid 2-over par round yesterday, shot 13-over par on Friday to take her total for the tourney to 15-over par 161 for a tie in 100th place.

Tournament debutant, Kellie Gachaga, carded 81 on both days, taking her total for the tournament to 16-over par 162, two shots better than Chanelle Wangari who ended her challenge at the event with an 18-over par 164 score. Meanwhile Mercy Nyanchama shot a round of 80 on Friday, seven better than she had on Thursday, for a total of 27-over par 173.

Dorota Zalewska and Lily May Humphreys will get the action underway on Moving Day tomorrow at 8:59 AM, with the leaders teeing off at 1:15 PM.

Chanelle Wangari follows her tee shot during the first day of the Magical Kenya Ladies Open at Vipingo Ridge.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

The fourth edition of the Magical Kenya Ladies Open teed-off today at the par-73 PGA Baobab course, Vipingo Ridge in Kilifi where England’s Eleanor Givens, South Africa’s Cara Gorlei, and 23-year-old Lauren Walsh from Ireland carded 4-under par 69 to end the day in a three-way share of the lead. Click this link https://a.meridianbet.ke/c/C7pYjz to start gaming and stand a chance of winning big with a meridianbet. Click this link https://a.meridianbet.ke/c/C7pYjz to start gaming and stand a chance of winning big with a meridianbet.

Eleanor, who teed off from the first in the morning, opened her round with six birdies on the first nine with her only blot coming in at the par-4 fifth, for a total of 32. She found the back nine slightly challenging but held steady for a total of 37 courtesy of a lone birdie at the par-5 11th and consecutive bogeys at the 15th and 16th.

Speaking after her round, Eleanor said; “Six birdies in the first eight holes is kind of a dream way to start my season [although the course] is just really challenging. The layout is tough, and you know you can get out of position and if you do, you just have to be clever with it and that happened to me a couple of times today.

“It’s windy, it’s hot, its firm, it is tough, so I am so pleased with how I started and also how I battled towards the end on some of the holes I got a little bit of position on,” she said.

“I haven’t been to Kenya for a while so, I just decided to come here. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the zebras [today], I hadn’t seen them before when I came here in 2019 and I’m really hoping to see the giraffe before I leave as well,” she added.

On her part, Cara teed-off in the afternoon as conditions got windier and hotter, but that didn’t seem to bother her as she went on to play a flawless round, carding 36 on the first nine courtesy of a birdie at the par-3 eighth; before carding 33 on the back nine courtesy of birdies at the 10th, 11th and 13th holes to end the round as joint leader.

Lauren matched Cara in playing a blemish-free round, carding 35 on the first nine courtesy of birdies fourth and the seventh, to combine with a total of 34 on the back nine courtesy of birdies at the 11th and 18th holes. The 2024 Magical Kenya Ladies Open is only the second Ladies European Tour event she will have taken part in, having made her Tour debut last year in September at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open where she finished tied in 13th.

The trio sits a shot above another three-way tie for second featuring Northern Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey, Italy’s 24-year-old Alessandra Fanali, and Denmark’s 24-year-old Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen, who are tied on 3-under par, 70.

Seventh place features a two-way tie between Aunchisa Utama from Thailand and Diksha Dagar from India who are both on 2-under par, 71. Another seven-way tie on one-under-par, 72, closes a crowded top ten after the first round.

It was a challenging outing for the Kenyan amateurs taking part in the event, but Vipingo-based Jacquelyne Walter emerged best of the lot, finishing the round in a tie for 40th place after carding a round of 2-over par 75 to leave her in contention for tomorrow’s cut which will reduce the field to 60 and ties.

Playing in her first Magical Kenya Ladies Open, Kenyan amateur Kellie Gachaga carded a score of 8-over par 81, one behind Naomi Wafula who carded a round of 7-over par 80.

Speaking after her round, Kellie said; “This is my first time playing at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open and I feel very honoured and happy to be representing Kenya. I was a bit nervous going into this, but I am confident in the preparation that I had put in and I just went out there and enjoyed my time and I am happy with that.”

“I think I started off well, I was just cruising, got more confident and I could see that in my golf shots as I was hitting better and better. At the end, I think I just thought about it a little bit too much, had a few hiccups but kept it under control. My dad is on my bag so, he keeps me very level-headed. Not the scores I wanted, but I was happy with my process. Tomorrow I am just going to try and keep the same mentality I had at the beginning and forget about how I have been playing and just finish how I start is – that is my main goal.” she added.

Round two action tees off tomorrow at 7:45 AM, with the players out to avoid the cut and get into the prize money bracket.

Jacquelyne Walter will be the first Kenyan to tee off at 8:51AM off the first tee. Chanelle Wangari will also get her round going from the first tee, at 12:32 PM, with Naomi Wafula, Mercy Nyanchama and Kellie Wahito Gachaga all teeing off between 1 PM and 2 PM.