Fatigue let me down, says Greg Snow after shock exit

Greg Snow follows his shot during the Barclays Kenya Open at Muthaiga Golf Club on March 23, 2017. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU |

What you need to know:

  • Home players struggle to keep up with world-class opponents at Muthaiga
  • I think I suffered burnout after all those events which were so close to the event, says top pro

Greg Snow, one of the local professionals who Kenyans expected to perform well in the Open, blamed his poor show on fatigue.

Snow was in an excellent form just a week before this year’s Barclays Kenya Open and he started as one of the hot favourites to fly Kenya’s flag high.

He had won the final event of the Kenya Open qualifying event with an impressive eight under par. He followed that with a five under par victory in the Jamii Telkom PGk Masters at Sigona before moving to Karen for the Karen Masters where he also played well.

This gave fans great hope of a possible Kenyan victory for the first time via Snow. He however made a poor start, firing two over par 73 in the first round before hitting one over 72 in the second to miss the cut by four shots.

SUFFERED BURNOUT

"I think I suffered burnout after all those events which were so close to the event. I made many silly mistakes, particularly in the second round where I was hoping to return a decent score to make the cut," said Snow.

It was the same story for Kenya Amateur Strokeplay champion Alfred Nandwa who looked set to clinch the amateur title until he hit four over par 75, having started well with two under par 69 in the first round.

“Nothing went well for me in the second round, although I had played well in the first round and didn’t expected to have any pressure in the second round, but this is golf. What you plan to do is not what happens on the course," said Nandwa.

But for Windsor resident professional Riz Charania who made his first Kenya Open cut, Kenyans needs more international events to be at the same level with the visiting players during the open.

“It is not good enough to play three or so events a week before the open. We need a number of events locally and once in a while go out there to play serious tournaments of the same level of the open so that we are mentally prepared," said Charania.

He said such international events will help the Kenyan pros to ease the pressure they usual have during the Open. Charania on Saturday shot two under par 69 for a three rounds total of four under par 209.

He needs at least four under par in the final round Sunday to put him to the top 20 positions at least. However, carrying the Kenyan flag high was long hitting Dismas Indiza, who who also shot two under par 69 to close the day on six under par 207 which left him six shots behind the third round leader Matt Wallace from England.

Kenya's Dismas Indiza follows the progress of his shot from the first tee during the third round of the Barclays Kenya Open at Muthaiga Golf Club on March 25, 2017. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU |

Britain's Matt Wallace follows the progress of his shot from the first tee during the third round of the Barclays Kenya Open at Muthaiga Golf Club on March 25, 2017. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU |

Indiza dropped three shots at the outward nine starting at the short hole second and later on at the seventh and eighth. He had birdied the third and fourth holes. However at the back nine, Indiza made birdies at the 12th and 15th, fired to about six feet from the pin at the par five-18th, went for the eagle but missed by six inches, to settle for a birdie.

The third Kenyan player Simon Ngige bogeyed one hole and also made one birdie for level par 71 for two under par 211.

Indiza, Ngige and Brian Njoroge were the only Kenyans to make cut in the 2016 event at Karen. Njoroge did not however play well this time round. It was however unfortunately for both Stefan Andersen and Richard Ainley, who missed the cut by one shot having fired 71 twice each.

Nyanza’s David Odhiambo shot two over par 73 after a 70 in the first round to miss the cut by two shots.