Indiza settles for second in Malawi Open
What you need to know:
- The long-hitting Indiza had put up a strong fight to eventually take the lead after the first nine holes
- He dropped a shot at the 15th hole to close the day on 73 and a total of three over par 291, to lose the title by three shots to Zimbabwe’s Trinosa Muradzikwa who won despite a two over par 74 in the final round
- Muradzikwa, who led the tournament from the third round after tying at the top with Kenya’s Sujan Shah in round two, took home $6,375 (Sh637,500)
Three putting particularly at the back nine cost Kenya’s Dismas Indiza the Malawi Open golf title at the tight Lilongwe Golf Club course on Sunday.
The long-hitting Indiza, who started the day in second place, had put up a strong fight to eventually take the lead after the first nine holes. He however picked up a double bogey at the 11th hole.
He managed to recover a shot at the par-five-12th and at the 14th though he dropped a shot at the 15th hole to close the day on 73 and a total of three over par 291, to lose the title by three shots to Zimbabwe’s Trinosa Muradzikwa who won despite a two over par 74 in the final round, for an aggregate of level par 288.
“I three putted a number of holes at the back nine which apparently gave the Zimbabwean an advantage even though he did not play that well either. This is a very tight course so one must keep it straight otherwise scoring becomes difficult,’’ said Indiza who took the second prize of $5,100 (Sh500,050).
Muradzikwa, who led the tournament from the third round after tying at the top with Kenya’s Sujan Shah in round two, took home $6,375 (Sh637,500). It was a big reprieve for him after a miserable performance in this year’s Uganda Open at Entebbe where he missed the cut after shooting 12 over par. Indiza won the Uganda Open with 10 under par.
Meanwhile finishing third on his own after a fine round of one under par 71 for four over par total of 292 was Zambia’s Sydney Wemba who started poorly, firing 80 in the first round though he eventually improved in the last three days with rounds of 72, 69 and his closing 71.
Whilst Simon Ngige dropped to joint 11th with 295 after posting three over par in the closing round, another Kenyan Greg Snow fired two under par 70, his best in the tournament, to tie for fourth place with Portugal's Stephen Fereira on five over par 293. Fereira carded the tournament’s lowest round, a four under par 68 in the closing round.
Of the other Kenyans, David Wakhu shot one over par 73 to tie with four others among them two compatriots Tony Omuli and Erick Ooko on six over par 294.
A total of 10 Kenyan pros had travelled to Malawi for the event where three failed to make cut.
The final leaderboard;
288 Trinosa Muradzikwa (Zim) 73, 69, 72, 74
291 Dismas Indiza (Ken) 71, 76, 71, 73
292 Sydney Wemba (Zam) 80, 72, 69, 71
293 Stephen Fereira (Por) 78, 76, 71, 68
293 Greg Snow (Ken) 78, 74, 71, 70
294Tony Omuli (Ken) 74, 74, 75, 71
294 Erick Ooko (Ken) 73, 76, 74, 71
294 Robinson Chinhoi (Zim) 76, 74, 73, 71
294 294 Douglas Roux (Nam) 74, 73, 75, 72
294 David Wakhu (Ken) 75, 72, 74, 73
295 Jamie Pennington (Swa) 73, 78, 73, 71
295 Simon Ngige (Ken) 72, 74, 74, 75.
