Snow fires his way to second place in Karen Masters
Kenya's Greg Snow follows the flight of his tee from hole 10 during the KCB Karen Masters tournament on June 27, 2019. PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT |
What you need to know:
- It was a fine start for the Kenyans as besides their Snow, seven others finished on under par scores. Golf Park's David Wakhu carded three under par 69 while Dismas Indiza, Justus Madoya, Jeff Kubwa, John Wangai and amateur Daniel Nduva finished on two under par 70 while Sigona's Sujan Shah was on one under par.
Local pro Greg Snow fired his way to the leaderboard where he was tied for second place, after a very well fought five under par 67 in the opening round of this year’s KCB Karen Masters golf tournament at the par 72 Karen Country Club course on Thursday.
Dropping only one shot for the day at the par three-seventh, Snow got off to a flying start, firing a birdie at the par four-first hole which seems to have triggered the successful round that included five more birdies at the fifth and sixth in the first nine, and later on at the 12th, 15th, and 16th holes.
He survived a last hole bogey after sinking a four-footer for a four, at the short par four-18th where he had laid up with a four iron. "My target was to hit many fairways, and roll in more putts and that is what will stick to in the coming rounds," said Snow. He said the course was playing well and easy to score if one stays on course.
Whilst Snow tied for the second place with among others, South Africans Garric Higgo, Neil Schietekat, and Thabiso Ngcobo, Portuguese pro Stephen Ferreira blasted a record 10 under par 62, to claim the round one lead as the field of 156 players begun the hunt for the Green Jacket.
Ferreira started by rolling in four back-to-back birdies from the first to the fourth, dropped a shot at the fifth for what looked like the lowest nine in the first round. He, however, picked up two successive birdies at the 12th and 13th, eagled the 15th and made birdies on the 16th and 17th.
"I hit my drivers very well and had no problem in finding the fairways, and would like to keep it that way in the next rounds,'' said Ferreira, who won the Uganda Open two years ago.
Meanwhile, back on the locals, it was a fine start for them as besides their Snow, seven others finished on under par scores. Golf Park's David Wakhu carded three under par 69 while Dismas Indiza, Justus Madoya, Jeff Kubwa, John Wangai and amateur Daniel Nduva finished on two under par 70 while Sigona's Sujan Shah was on one under par.
Richard Ainley and Simon Ngige closed on level par and Riz Charania shot one over par 73 to finish a shot better than Jacob Okello, Simon Njogu, Ken Bollo and Boniface Simwa.
