Heavy rainfall forced the Kenya Golf Union (KGU) to cancel Golf Park Open, the 6th leg of Kenya Amateur Golf Championships (KAGC) series on Sunday evening at the par 70, Golf Park Golf club.
With first on Friday, the home player Amos odongo taking a one shot lead at two under par 68, the second and third rounds on Saturday and Sunday were not played forcing the union to cancel the whole event.
The statement from the union read: “Due to bad weather and flooding on the course, we regret to inform you that the tournament has been cancelled. Safety is our top priority and we appreciate your understanding. We will keep you updated on any rescheduling plans.”
Golf Park captain K Lucas on Sunday evening said in a statement: “As we all know by now, Golf Park Open was cancelled due to unavoidable circumstances. As we wait to settle on a new date, I take this moment to thank all players for showing great interest in playing our open.”
“We had a lineup of a great number of the top amateurs in the country ready to battle it out on our course. Rest assured that we at Golf Park will be ready to host you and finish what we started. On behalf of my committee and myself, I’d like to convey our sincerest apology for any inconvenience to both the players and the various sponsors involved in making GP open the success it was shaping up to be and in the same breath.”
Odongo has taken a one shot lead as he was searching for his maiden victory in the KAGC series, fired two under par 68 to take a shot lead against Ruiru’s Raphael Leming’ani and Kenya Railways and former KAGC champion John Lejirma on one under par 69 respectively.
He took the home advantage to start on a good note with a par, dropped a shot in 2nd and 3rd, parred in the remaining holes apart from a birdie in 9th for a total of one over par 36 in the opening nine.
His second nine was fruitful when he fired a hole in one in 11th after a par in 10th, birdies in 14th and 18th, with a bogey in 16th with other pars in 12th, 13th, 15th and 17th for three under par 32.
The title defending champion Sammy Mulama, who moved from Golf Park to Mombasa completed the day in T8 with three over par 73.
Series leader Elvis Muigua from Kiambu completed round one with level par 70, two shots less than Odongo for position 4 as Vet lab’s Steve Orinda was 5th.
The three day 54-hole tournament that started today will come to an end on Sunday with a second round set for Saturday morning before Sunday’s third and final 18 hole play.
Kiambu’s Joyce Wanjiru is the top lady in the tournament after firing two over 72 to take up position T6 alongside Great Rift valley’s Kevin Barasa and Vetlab’s Isaac Makokha.