Daniel Nduva leads Kenyan sweep at Uganda Open

What you need to know:

  • Nduva played a clean first nine which included two birdies at the third and fifth holes for two under par front nine. He started the back nine well, rolling in a birdie at the 13th but a double bogey at the 14th almost ruined his chances of claiming the Uganda Open trophy, now in it's 78th edition.

Kenya’s Daniel Nduva on Saturday completed a four rounds total of two under par 286, to claim the 2019 Uganda Open amateur golf championship at the Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort where the Kenyans made a historic 1-2-3 sweep.

One of the longest hitters in the country and a member of Nyali Golf and Country Club Mombasa, Nduva played a clean first nine which included two birdies at the third and fifth holes for two under par front nine. He started the back nine well, rolling in a birdie at the 13th but a double bogey at the 14th almost ruined his chances of claiming the Uganda Open trophy, now in it's 78th edition.

He, however, made a birdie at the 17th for a closing two under par 70, to win by a shot from compatriot Simon Njogu who had set the pace for the day where at one time, he was at the top of the leaderboard until he bogeyed the 14th and 16th, having earlier dropped four shots at the first nine where he made two birdies at the second and ninth.

Njogu started the back nine well, firing birdies on the 11th and 12th and an eagle at the 13th to level the final round, to finish in second place overall with a total of one under par 287. But what a day it was for Kenya Railway Golf Club’s Samuel Njoroge who took off with a birdie at the first hole, fired in one at the par three-fourth hole to go three under par for the day.

He, however, dropped shots at the fifth, sixth and eighth, recovered one at the ninth, but bogeyed three holes in a row from the 10th to 12th and one more at the 15th for three over par 75 which left him a shot behind the Great Rift Valley Resort player Njogu, with a 72-hole total of level par 288 for the Kenyans to claim the first three places in the tournament.

SAFARI TOUR

The three have also qualified to play along with the pros in next week’s professional tournament which is now part of the Safari Tour.

The best Ugandan in the tournament, which attracted leading amateurs from across East Africa, was Joseph Chinywaai who shot level par 72 for five over par 293.

His compatriot and past winner Ronald Otile - who recovered from an awful 82 gross start to shoot two impressive rounds of 68 and 66 - found the going tough in the final round where he shot 79 to tie on seven over par 295.

The final leaderboard:

Daniel Nduva (Ken) 75, 70, 71, 70= 286

Simon Njogu (Ken) 69, 75, 71, 72= 287

Samuel Njoroge (Ken) 73, 72, 68, 75= 288

Joseph Chinywaai (UG) 76, 73, 72, 72= 293

Dennis Asaba (UG) 76, 75, 72, 72= 295

Ronald Otile (UG) 82, 68, 66, 79= 295

Zubair Khan (Ken) 75, 74, 75, 74= 298

Peter Rimui (Ken) 71, 76, 76, 78= 301

Mike Kisia (Ken) 76, 75, 73, 79= 303