Putter magic inspires Madoya to go for Kenya Open glory

Great Rift Valley Resort’s Jastas Madoya, a regular in the Kenyan team at the European Tour’s Magical Kenya Open believes he has finally found his winning charm as next year’s edition approaches.

The golfer, on the weekend, completed a four rounds total of 13 under par 271 to win his first event of the 2021 Safari Tour, the Open’s qualifying tournament, at the par 71 Entebbe Golf Club course, a win he attributes to an improved approach shot and perfect putting.

Heading to the Uganda event, the Naivasha-based golfer was in 12th place on the “Road to Magical Kenya Open 2022” order of merit at 82.3 points after a slow start to the qualifying series where he missed cut in the opening Sigona and Vetlab events. Victory in Entebbe saw him bag 75 points to frog jump to eighth place.

“After the first four events, it was evident my putter was not working for me and the scores even in the two legs I made cut showed. I had to get a new putter. Two weeks to the Uganda event, I exchanged the new putter with a Ping putter belonging to one of our directors at Great Rift Valley John Mbu and it has worked wonders. 

I normally do not struggle with putting or chipping it is my strong point. My approach shots are the troublesome ones and when I got that right in Uganda, I knew I was on to something good,” explained Madoya. 

The golfer reveals that within a week of using the said putter at a ‘Mburu and Friends’ dubbed tournament at Sigona, Vet, Thika as part of his preparations for Uganda Open and posting under-par scores, he felt confident heading to Entebbe. 

Madoya carded one-over par 72 in the closing round which included two bogeys at the front nine and three at the back nine with an eagle at the long par five-seventh and two birdies at the 14th and 15th holes. He had, however, played three rounds of under-par scores at 65, 68 and 66 to give himself a good enough cushion for the win. 

“I love Entebbe and I enjoy playing there. The grass on their greens there is totally different from many Kenyan courses so one cannot really prepare for what the greens have to offer. But going to Uganda, I knew my dream of playing under par on all rounds was a possibility and I am happy for the score there. I stayed calm and constantly improved my approach shot and it worked for me. 

Scores in the European Tour events are usually too good and one can only compete with the rest of the world carding under pars. I am hoping to keep this form going and that calls for no breaks during the festive season as we have an event in the first week of January. I will also be working to stay fit through the season,” added Madoya further revealing that he will go back to playing with the newly acquired putter that he exchanged for Mbu’s in the hope that it will perform just as well ahead of the 3 to 6 March 2022 Open set to return to Muthaiga.