Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club’s Njoroge Kibugu returned a blemish-free round leading scorecard of three-under par 68 to climb to the top of the Sunshine Development Tour’s East Africa Swing Qualifying School tournament leaderboard at the par 71 Great Rift Valley Golf Resort in Naivasha on Tuesday.
The brilliant round saw him take his two-round total tally to three-under par 139 on what was a tough day all round as players sought to make the cut.
Njoroge, who started the day tied on fifth with level par, played steadily through the first nine, holding par in the first eight holes, before birding the par-four ninth.
He would take a similar approach on the back nine, carding pars on the first three holes as the field around him crumbled, with overnight leader Lejirma and Mike Kisia, who was in second at this point, bogeying the par four 10th.
Njoroge would then record back-to-back birdies at the par four 13th and par five 14th holes he had bogeyed in the first round, before playing safely through the tricky last three holes which claimed many casualties in the round, including the round one leader and runner-up.
“I can’t complain about today’s round, I hit the ball the way I wanted to hit it and placed it where I wanted. All round I am proud of how I played today, it tells me I am consistent, I hit plenty of fairways and enough greens to make enough pars,” Njoroge said.
“I gave myself chances to make birdies on the front nine, they just didn’t drop, I am quite surprised I got more birdies in the back nine.
“I hope to continue to be consistent, through the next rounds, stick to my game plan and process. I have been here before, I know what I need to do and hopefully I will end up on top,” he added.
Round one leader, Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s John Lejirma, stumbled at the back nine, with bogeys on the par four 10th, par three 15th, par five 17th and par four 18th to relinquish the lead and finish in second with a round score of one-over-par 72, taking his overall score to two-under-par 140.
“Coming in today, my goal was to keep the momentum going, unfortunately I ran into some hiccups, especially in the second nine, where I dropped shots at 17 and 18. First nine went well, but it couldn’t stick,” Lejirma said.
“I am going into tomorrow with my chin up, my main focus will be to stick to my game plan, staying present and making good decisions on the course,” he added.
Muthaiga Golf Club’s Greg Snow had a tough start to the round, with back-to-back bogeys on the first and second, and a further one on the fifth, a rally on the back nine, would eventually end in his fourth bogey of the day at the 18th, to return a round score of one-over-par 72, taking his overall score to one-under-par 141 to see him maintain 3rd place on the leaderboard.
“I had a very slow start, I bogeyed the first two holes and couldn’t get anything going. It’s frustrating, really but I’m still in the tournament, so I am going to try to stay low in the next two days,” Snow said.
“You’ve got to stay patient on this golf course, because it can really bite you. Overall I gave myself a chance in the round but I couldn’t capitalize, hopefully I can do the next two days.
“There’s a lot of golf, in the next two rounds. I got to play a little bit better than I did today and give myself more chances and see what happens the next two days,” he added.
It was a round to forget for round one’s runner up, Isaiah Otuke, who returned a score of eight-over-par 79, to drop 14 places to sixteenth on the leaderboard, with an overall score of six-over-par 148.
The biggest gains on the leaderboard included Golf Park’s Galgalo Abraham, who moved up 15 places to ninth place with a round score of one-under-par 70, tied with Dismas Indiza who moved up eight places and Rwanda’s Celestin Nsanzuwera, moving nine places up to sixth place.
A total of 52 golfers made the cut which was set at 18-over-par, to play in round three and four, the list includes 13 amateurs, among them ladies Kellie Gachanga and Joyce Wanjiru.
The field of 54 will be targeting a share of the Sh1 million prize purse, and more importantly the top 10 slots that will earn them an invite to play at the Sunshine Tour Final Stage Qualifier, set for April 8-11, 2025, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Round three action tees off at 7:30am on Wednesday with the pair of Anthony Macharia Irungu teeing off from the 10th as Alfred Nandwa, William Odek and Sammy Mulama get the round underway from the first tee.
The leading group of Greg Snow, John Lejirma and Njoroge Kibugu will tee off at 8:42am, off the first tee. (IMG Kenya)
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