Ngige one round away from clinching Nyali Open

Thika Sports Club’s Simon Ngige has maintained his consistency at the Nyali Golf Course and is now one round, better than the rest of the field, away from lifting the Safari Tour Series seventh leg.

Ngige missed a number of greens, but still managed to grab a one-shot lead going into Wednesday’s final round. Starting the day on two under par and just a shot behind round two leader David Wakhu, Ngige hit all the fairways but his approach shots presented the biggest challenge and eventually denied him a lower score as he played for a one over par 72 in the third round.

“My approach shots let me down. I either went to the bunkers or overshot the greens, and that is something I will try and avoid tomorrow (Wednesday). I don’t think I missed any fairway today as I was hitting my wedge after taking off well in most of the par fours. I missed birdies in all the longer holes (par fives) which would have bettered my score,” said Ngige who is chasing his first Safari Tour title.

The 35-year old sent his second shot to the bunker at the fourth to drop his first shot of the day. He then overshot the green on the par four-ninth and later bogeyed the par three-10th. He however picked up birdies at the 12th, and the par three 15th for one over par 72 and a three rounds total of one under par 212.

Ngige will tee off on Wednesday morning alongside round two leader Wakhu and Zimbabwean Robson Chinhoi in the final round where the winner will take home Sh150,000.

Chinhoi played a clean first nine which included two birdies at the first and fourth, he dropped a shot at the 13th but made two successive birdies at the 15th and 16th but picked a bogey at the par five-17th which denied him an under par finish. His level par for the day left him at level par 213 for the tournament and a chance to strike to the top in the closing round.

“I messed my game mostly on the greens as they are not consistent and are unpredictable. I hit good shots both from the tee and second shots but missed a number of birdie putts. Some greens were quicker while others were slow,” said Chinhoi.

It was, however, a bad round for Wakhu who blamed his takeoff from the tee and a few second shots for the dismal display. 

“I hit my four iron in the long and middle holes, but they were not perfect and made it difficult for me to hit the greens on regulation. I will still go with the same game plan tomorrow as I believe it is still possible to recover the six shots in the final round’’ said Wakhu who bogeyed most of the par fours.