Jastas Madoya has taken a day one leader at the third leg of the Sunshine Development Tour – East Africa Swing that teed off today at the par-71 Nyali golf Club in Mombasa.
The Great Rift Valley golfer fired level par 71 on a day with heavy rainfall that forced the game to stop for two hours.
Madoya made birdies on the 3rd and 5th holes, offset by a single bogey on the 4th in the front nine then on the back nine, he dropped a shot on the 10th but quickly recovered with a birdie on 11. He followed that with another dropped shot on 12 and then steadied the round, picking up a birdie on 17 before closing with a bogey on the final hole to finish on even-par 71.
“The course played tough with the early rain, but I stuck to my routine and focused on shot-by-shot execution. I didn’t take unnecessary risks and just tried to keep the ball in play. Nyali is a tricky course, especially in the wind, so I’m happy with how I handled the conditions,” said Madoya.
Tied for second on 1-over-par 72 were David Wakhu of Golf Park and Greg Snow of Muthaiga Golf Club.
Wakhu carded birdies on the 1st, 5th, and 17th holes, but saw his round checked by bogeys on the 3rd, 7th, 11th, and 16th, with pars on the rest.
Snow had a promising front nine with birdies on the 1st, 5th, and 8th, but also dropped shots on the 4th, 7th, and 9th. He recovered well on the second nine, adding a birdie on the 11th, playing steady par golf apart from bogeys on 12 and 16, to close on 72.
Reflecting on his round, Snow said: “It’s a course that demands accuracy, and today’s conditions made that even more important. I had a few misreads, but overall, I managed the round quite well. Tomorrow is a new day, and I’ll try to go a few better.”
Occupying the fourth spot on 2-over-par 73 was the trio of Fadhil Said Nkya from Tanzania, Daniel Nduva of Nyali and Samuel Njoroge of Kenya Railway.
A six-way tie for seventh saw Mohit Mediratta, Erick Ooko, Celestine Nsanzuwera of Rwanda, Kenneth Bollo, Alfred Nandwa, and Adel Balala all finish on 3-over-par 74, keeping the leaderboard tightly packed heading into round two.