Snow, Chidale take early lead in Safari Tour
Malawi's Paul Chidale follows the flight of his shot during the first round of the final leg of 2019/20 Safari Tour Golf Series at Karen Country Club on February 23, 2020.
What you need to know:
- The two fired three under par 69 each as Zambia’s Madalitso Muthiya and Rwanda’s 23-year-old Alloys Nsabimana tied for the third place on two under par 70, just a shot adrift from the leaders
- On his part, Snow who started his round on the back, made a birdie at the 16th and an eagle at the 17th with only a single bogey for the nine
- Chidale on the other hand said his he made sure of staying on the fairway and hitting the greens on regulation
Safari Tour Order of Merit leader Greg Snow and Malawi’s Paul Chidale tied at the top of the leaderboard in day one of the Safari Tour grand finale at the par 72 Karen Country Club course on Sunday.
The two fired three under par 69 each as Zambia’s Madalitso Muthiya and Rwanda’s 23-year-old Alloys Nsabimana tied for the third place on two under par 70, just a shot adrift from the leaders. Chidale birdied three holes and dropped two shots at the front nine while at the back nine, he picked up birdies on the 10th and 11th with a bogey coming at the 14th hole.
On his part, Snow who started his round on the back, made a birdie at the 16th and an eagle at the 17th with only a single bogey for the nine. He started the front nine with a double bogey at first hole, recovered with two birdies and dropped a shot at the ninth to also close the day with 69.
“I got off to a solid start at the back nine, made an eagle at the eighth which got me to three-under through nine holes, but made a birdie start at my second nine, after a double and a couple of single bogeys. I feel like I left a few shots out there,’’ said Snow. “If you didn’t hit the fairway and found the rough, then you struggled. There was a bit of wind out there, but all the same, the course is in good condition.”
Chidale on the other hand said his he made sure of staying on the fairway and hitting the greens on regulation. “I didn’t miss the fairway; then ensuring that my second shot lands on the green. From there, my aim was to make two putts even though it did not always work out,” said the Malawian.
Meanwhile, Jacob Okello, John Wangai, Dismas Indiza and Edwin Mudanyi were on 71 each in the Magical Kenya, Absa Group and Johnnie Walker-sponsored event whose second round gets underway at 8am on Monday.
The final leg of the 2019/20 Safari Tour Golf Series kicked off with the Pro-Am held on Saturday at the same venue where the Great Rift Valley Resort professional Justus Madoya carded three under par 39 for his team’s 90 points to win the Pro-Am team title.
Following in second place was the Jeff Kubwa led team on 87 points while Rwanda’s Nsabimana steered his team to third place with a score of 82 points.
Madoya won himself Sh30,000 with Kubwa and Nsabimana taking home Sh20,000 and Sh10,000 respectively. In the individual members’ category, lady golfer Irene Auma emerged overall winner with 43 points with youngster George Gitogo taking the men’s title on 41 points. Stanley Nduati was second in the men’s category with 39 points as Joyce Van Tongeren was crowned the lady winner with 39 points after beating Rose Ndunge Musau on countback.
Eric Karuga and Kezie Kihara won the nines on 21 and 23 points respectively with Justus Njogu winning the longest drive prize for the men. Louisa Gitau took home the longest drive prize for the ladies while David Nduati took home the nearest-to-pin prize.
