Njoroge Kibugu continued with his superlative performance at the second and penultimate round of Sunshine Development Tour East Africa Swing at the Thika Sports Club.
Enjoying home advantage, Kibugu has inched closer to glory after carding a round of 70 for 2-under par, to maintain his four-stroke advantage at the top of the leaderboard heading to the final round tomorrow.
The 36-hole leader now holds a 10-under par, 134 score, four ahead of Kigali Golf Club’s – and the winner of the East Africa Swing Q-School event – Celestin Nsanzuwera, who shot a round of 65 for 7-under: the lowest for the day.
The duo who played off the same flight off the first tee, made for an exciting watch as they traded proverbial blows, with Celestin holding a 4-stroke advantage on the day at the turn, and would stretch it to five at the back nine having dropped only one shot at the par-5 13th. Njoroge would shoot three birdies and two bogeys, enough to see him hold onto that 4-shot advantage.
Njoroge said; “It was a lot steadier today, of course you start wanting to match the 8 under again, but 2 under is not a bad score. The putts didn’t stick as much today, but I managed to keep it in play, I scrambled half decently and hope to do a bit better tomorrow.”
“I am going to try stay focused going into tomorrow, despite the four-stroke lead, and focus on what I have been doing these past two days and stick to my process.” He added.
On his part, Celestin was elated with his free-flowing round, “I am happy with my round today, everything was working, the tee shots and putts, unlike yesterday. It sets me up nicely for tomorrow and look to go all the way tomorrow.”
On his improving displays from round to round as also evidenced at the Q-School event, he said, “When you start badly like I did yesterday and also in the opening round at Great Rift, the best thing you can do is learn from your mistakes and that is what I have been doing.”
Celestin sits one stroke ahead of the trio of Karen Country Club’s Edwin Mudanyi, Kiambu Golf Club’s Simon Ngige and Golf Park’s Jacob Okello, who are tied for third, on scores of 5-under par, 139.
The most successful Kenyan at the Kenya Open, Jacob Okello, rolled back the hands of time, returning a round score of 4-under par, 68, featuring an eagle at the par-4 third and birdies at the first, fourth, back to back at the twelfth and thirteenth before wrapping up with another at the eighteenth.
Simon Ngige returned a round score of 3-under par, improving his round one performance with Edwin Mudanyi returning a round score of 1-under par, 71 to drop one place to third.
Mudanyi said; “It was a good round but I didn’t maximise on the opportunities I created, so I left some shots out there. Being in contention is a good place to be, the pace is already set and the job that I have done over the last two days should be enough to get me through tomorrow.”
“Coming here, I wanted to secure a top five finish, and I am on course to finish within the top five, so going into tomorrow, this is not a course that wants a lot of change so I’ll just take more of the opportunities I create.” He added.
Other stand out performers of the round included, Sigona Golf Club’s CJ Wangai, who returned a score of 5-under par, 67 and Golf Park’s Erick Ooko Obura, who played a round of 4-under par, 68.
A total of 33 players made the CUT, which was set at 5-over par, to play in the final round and for a stake of the KES 2 Million prize fund.
The final round of the 54-hole tournament is set to tee off tomorrow at 7:30AM, with the leaders set to get their rounds underway at 9:59AM.
The Sunshine Tour, one of the premier professional golf tours globally, officially expanded its footprint into Kenya and the East African region with the introduction of the Sunshine Development Tour – East Africa Swing in March.
This series is designed to provide a pathway for professional golfers and elite amateurs to compete in regular, high-calibre tournaments aligned with Sunshine Tour standards.
The events on this tour not only offer Sunshine Development Tour points but also opportunities to play in the South Africa’s Big Easy Tour, in addition to earning Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points, providing local and regional players with increased opportunities to rise through the global golfing ranks