Ngige heads to Nyali Open round two with one-shot lead

Teeing off from hole one at 9.20 am on Monday, February 1, 2021, Thika Sports Club’s pro golfer Simon Ngige is hoping to carry the same form he had in the first round of the ongoing Nyali Open to win the seventh Safari Tour leg.

 Ngige played for a birdie finish at the par three-18th hole, in round one played on Sunday, January 31, 2021, to grab a one-shot lead in the opening round at the par 71 Nyali Golf as 52 golfers teed off in the tournament.

In his quest for glory at Nyali, Ngige had picked three successive birdies from the sixth to the eighth hole but closed the front nine with a bogey. He started the back nine with a bogey at the down-hilly par three-10th, recovered one shot at the par five-11th.

He then bogeyed the 12th and 13th holes though remained on-course up to the 18th where he picked his fifth birdie of the day, to lead Golf Park’s Eric Ooko by one shot in the round which saw three players Alfred Nandwa, Joseph Karanja and coast-based John Kisia withdraw from the tournament for various reasons.

Two others Promise Silla and junior amateur Zayan Din missed the first round cut of 85 gross and better, leaving a field of 48 players to battle it out in today’s second round where the top 20 and ties will proceed to the final two rounds.

Meanwhile, for the leading group, Ooko made two birdies in each nine but also dropped an equal number of shots for level par 71 at the end of round one. Muthaiga’s Nelson Mudanyi and Greg Snow fired one over par 72 each, to tie for third place. Mudanyi birdied the first, second, 12 and 17th but picked a double-bogey six at the par four-fourth hole. He then dropped a shot at the sixth and the ninth, and one more at the 16th hole. Snow picked up his birdies at the fifth and 11th having double-bogeyed the fourth and at the par three-10th.