Pro golfers turn focus to Muthaiga for final Safari Tour event

A final chance for local and regional professional golfers to score points towards the Magical Kenya Open presents itself as the qualifying series heads to the final leg at the par 71 Muthaiga Golf Club. 

Only eight Kenyan professional golfers and four from the region (Africa) taking part in the Safari Tour are guaranteed of a spot to face off with the golfing elite at the European Tour event scheduled for 6 to 10 March. 

The golfers have, in the last four days, done battle at the Par 72 Karen Country Club where Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi's pipped Mumias' hard hitter Dismas Indiza to the title in a tense playoff. This is Chinhoi's third title of the series this season having won at Vetlab in October and picked another victory in Limuru last month. 

After finishing tied on 12 under par at the end of the four rounds of golf, engaging in a three-hole playoff won by the Zimbabwean. 

Chinhoi and Visitor Mapwanya had taken a 13 under par and 14 under par leads heading to the final round with Indiza trailing them at ten under par. 

However, the Mumias Pro golfer carded a two under par 70 in the final round while Chinhoi settled for a one over par 73 that saw the two tied on 12 under par gross.

Chinhoi clinched it with a seven-foot putt, denying Indiza a chance at a sudden-death win. Indiza missed as a routine three-foot putt that would have take the playoff to sudden-death. 

"I had played well in the first three rounds but I had three golfers ahead of me and I had given in to the idea that the title was gone. I was just fighting to maintain my fourth place. 

However, the pin positions on the final day of action were tough on everyone but they helped me to catch up with the leading pack. I missed a putter on the 11th and 16th for birdies that would have given me the advantage and we wouldn't have been in the playoff. I missed an easy one in the playoff tok and Chinhoi won," explained Indiza. 

With a Magical Kenya Open slot secured Indiza says the focus at Muthaiga is to play lile he would in the actual European Tour even and keep the scores low. 

"Muthaiga is a tough course so I cannot predict the score. However, the idea is to use this leg as one of my practice sessions. The roughs at Muthaiga are big and I cannot predict where the pin positions will be but I am hoping for another good outing. 

We have little time to rest between the two events but I am putting in the work even as i take a break to reflect. After struggling with putting at Karen, I have spent an hour at Muthaiga on Thursday just practising my putts," Indiza further offered.