Great Rift Valley Golf, Friday:
Kigali Golf Resort and Villa’s Celestin Nsanzuwera will lead a team of 10 East African qualifiers to the Sunshine Tour Final Stage Qualifier in Johannesburg next week.
This after his victory on Friday after the final round of the inaugural Sunshine Development Tour’s East Africa Swing Qualifying School (Q-School) tournament at the par 71 Great Rift Valley Golf Resort.
The J’oburg tournament will be played from April 8 to 11
Nsanzuwera returned a final round two-under par 69 to take his overall score after four rounds to four-under 280, four strokes ahead of overnight leader, Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s John Lejirma, who finished on level par 284.
The trio of Dismas Indiza, Greg Snow and Samuel Njoroge finished joint third on four-over, 288.
Nsanzuwera started the day trailing Lejirma by four shots, the two playing off the same flight, joined by Dismas Indiza.
The leading duo started steadily off the first, playing par through the opening two holes but Nsanzuwera would drop his first shot at the third, his first of two in the round.
He would go on to birdie the par-four fifth with Lejirma having bogeyed three holes to relinquish the lead.
Nsanzuwera then turned on the afterburners in the back nine after bogeying the par-four 11th, immediately recovering on the 12th with a birdie, with further birdies at par-five 14th and par-four 16th.
At this point, he was tied with Lejirma at three-under.
Lejirma would then drop three shots in the closing two holes, bogeying the par-five 17th and double bogeying the par-four 18th, with Nsanzuwera holding par to claim the win.
“I am so excited for this win, as mentioned after round three, I was going to go for the win, I want to thank God, the players I played with, they were good players, but today was my day,” Nsanzuwera reacted.
“I started slowly, hacking the ball but kept my cool, after the bogey at 11th and birdie at the 12th, I started telling myself that it is possible and just kept my head down from there.
“Playing in the Q-School is a great opportunity for me, it will be my first time playing in South Africa and the chance to get a Sunshine Tour card is huge. I want to thank the organizers for this.”
Lejirma rued the missed opportunity to bag the title: “It was a tough day out there, I think I was fatigued at some point, but that is the game of golf. It was frustrating, especially when the strongest part of my game, which is my putting did not stick today.
“Getting the opportunity to test my game against the best has been a great experience and playing in the Sunshine tour is a dream come true. At the final Q-School tournament, I want to keep the momentum going and play well, showcase our talents and represent our country.”
Lejirma is now contemplating turning professional after a great spell as an amateur.
“I am thinking of turning professional very soon, especially with more opportunities to play, it is just a matter of time. I want to thank the sponsors and organisers for putting this tournament together, on behalf of all the amateurs who received an invite.”
Nsanzuwera banked Sh180,220 as prize money with Lejirma taking home Sh108,130 as the trio of Indiza, Snow and Chege bagged Sh56,470 each.
There was a play-off at the 18th hole to decide the last two players that will play in the final Sunshine Q-School tournament after Isaiah Otuke, Jastas Madoya and Mike Kisia finished tied in ninth.
Kisia would place his second shot five feet from the pin, with two putts to claim ninth place as home pro Madoya settled for 10th off a bogey with Otuke double bogeying to miss the flight to South Africa.
“I have been here before, I failed to make the Kenya Open after losing a play off, so I told myself, not again. I simply kept the ball in regulation and the rest fell into place,” Kisia reacted.
“I can’t describe this feeling, but I want to feel it every time I play, it will be my first time playing in South Africa and I look forward to it very much. I hope to improve my game as the competition there is high.”
The top 10 players will now head to the Sunshine Tour Final Stage Qualifier in Johannesburg next week with the entire field earning playing cards to the East Africa Swing events for the year, also earning them valuable Sunshine Development tour points and Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points on the East Africa Swing.
This update is generally attributed to Pura Vida’s Content team. Feel free to shared any feedback or or relevant info incase of inaccuracies.
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