Simwa, Timbe on top at Sigona
Nelson Simwa follows his shot during the Barclays Kenya Open Pro-Am event at Muthaiga Golf Club on March 22, 2017. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Simwa dropped a shot at the par five-fourth after picking up a birdie at the third hole.
- He rolled in three birdies in the closing three holes of the nine.
Vet Lab Sports Club’s Nelson Simwa produced the day’s best round, a seven under par 65, to tie with round two leader Kopan Timbe going into today’s final round of the Kenya Open qualifying event at Sigona. Simwa dropped a shot at the par five-fourth after picking up a birdie at the third hole.
He, however, rolled in three birdies in the closing three holes of the nine.
He started the back nine well, firing in two back to back birdies over the 10th and 11th, added more at the 15th, 16th and the home green with a bogey in between (17th) for a low four under 32 and a three-round total of seven under par 209, to join Timbe at the top. Timbe double-bogeyed the 16th, having dropped three other shots earlier on for one over par 73.
He had started the back nine with two successive birdies in addition to two earlier birdies at the outward nine, before picking up his double bogey. The two leading pros are just two shots away from hot charging Dismas Indiza who fired three under par 69 in the third round to keep his chances of claiming the overall title alive.
Indiza, who is using these tournaments to just prepare for the Open since he has already qualified for next month’s contest, missed the first leg at Muthaiga two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, home pro John Wangai and round one leader Nelson Mudanyi were tied in fourth place after posting one over par 73 each for 214.
The third leg of the five-event series will take place on February 12th to 15th at Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club. The Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) organised the series to select 18 players who will join the four exempted players Indiza, Riz Charania, Simon Ngige and Stefan Andersen.
The 18 pros will be those who will shoot level par in two 72 holes event out of the five events, or any pro who will shoot under par in five round or more in the 20 rounds being played.
The third round leader board: 209 — Nelson Simwa 73, 71, 65209 — Kopan Timbe 72, 64, 73211 — Dismas Indiza 71, 71, 69214 — John Wangai 69, 72, 73214 — Nelson Mudanyi 67, 74, 73219 — Ganeev Giddie 75, 71, 73219 — Mathew Omondi 74, 71, 74220 — Frank Matilo 76, 71, 73220 — Brian Njoroge 72, 77, 71221 — Alfred Nandwa 74, 78, 69221 — Nicholas Rokoine 73, 77, 71.
