Eric Ooko played level par 71 gross in the second round to maintain top position in the inaugural Safari Tour event at the par 71 Nyali Golf and Country Club today as 20 golfers make the cut into the third round tomorrow.
Royal Club’s member tallied her points to 154 following his two over par 73 in the opening round on Sunday to beat second placed Windsor’s Rizwan Charania by two shots to second place.
The rainy course did not hinder Ooko after starting well with a birdied on the 1st, 3rd and 5th holes but he dropped a shot on the par-4 6th and made a double bogey on the par-4 7th.
In the back nine, Ooko made a lone birdie on the par-4 12th but dropped shots on the 10th, 16th and 18th holes to finish two-over. With this score, Ooko maintained his lead after Round-2 with half the field recorded.
Charania posted a two-over score of 73, identical to his Round-1 score saying his round came undone by three of Nyali’s toughest holes – the par-4 2nd, the par-3 3rd and par-4 4th.
“The second is tough dogleg left, the tee shot is through a tight gap; the third is an equally tough short hole and the fourth is the hardest hole at Nyali,” he said.
Charania made birdies on the 1st, 15th and 17th holes.
Mumias based long hitter Dismas Indiza had a mixed second round, making birdies two birdies on the front nine on the 1st and 9th holes. He followed these with three back to back birdies on the 11th, 12th and 17th holes; however, he dropped shots on the 2nd, 4th, 10th, 15th and 16th holes and an ugly double on the par-3 3rd.
Indiza’s finished 1-over gross 72 and is now tied in second place with Charania and two shots behind Ooko.
Only the top-20 professionals will make the CUT to play into Round-3 and Round-4 and compete for the total prize fund of Sh1m.