Chinhoi in pole position at Karen course

Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi eventually took the lead after a brilliant round of six under par 66 gave him a three rounds total of 12 under par 201 ahead of Wednesday's final round of the Safari Tour ninth leg at Karen Country Club course.

Playing along with Kenya’s Dismas Indiza and Nigeria’s Andrew Odoh on Tuesday, Chinhoi made a bogey at the third hole, the only bogey for the day, then four straight birdies thereafter to carry to the back nine a three under par.

He then birdied the 10th, where he drove to about 50 yard to the green, chipped on well and made an easy birdie.

This was followed by another birdie at the 11th and at the 15th for three under and the day’s six under par.

“I had some fabulous shots today, and I am very happy that my game plan for the Magical Kenya Open in very much in place," said Chinhoi, who will now be in the flight of Indiza and Thika Sports Club’s Simon Ngige, who shot an impressive five under par 66 to move to third place on seven under par 206.

On the other hand, the long-hitter Indiza, who had started the day a shot behind Chinhoi and Odoh, had a smooth front nine, where he picked up a birdie at the first hole, and made it four under after picking up more birdies at the sixth, eighth and ninth.

He drove onto the green at the 10th, missed a two by a foot for an easy birdie which put him on 10 under par, same as Chinhoi, who had also birdied the hole.

He drove to the left rough at the 11th, pushed his approach shot to the left, chipped on well, but missed the birdie, while Chinhoi, who was onto the green for two, made his birdie.

Indiza remained on course, playing rather a conservative game, though at the 18th, he blocked to the right trees, overshot the green and had to chip back. He missed a footer for a par to drop his only shot of the day.

“Today I wanted to take a shot after shot, and was able to make several birdies with the only bad second shot in the last hole being the only draw-back, but not to worry, there is another round tomorrow and who knows what can happen," said Indiza, who said his main focus now is the Magical Kenya Open.

“The greens are still slow, but I am sure they will continue working on them, otherwise the course at the moment is playing well," added Indiza, whose nine under par total of 204, left him three shots behind the leader.

Thika-based Ngige made six birdies with only a bogey at the 13th, having made birdies at the fifth, sixth, and at the ninth, in addition to the back-to-back birdies at the 11th and 12th and a nice one at the 17th.

It was not a good round for Odoh as he dropped three straight shots after picking up a birdie at the second hole, dropped one more shot at the 12th for two over par 73 to drop to fourth, where he tied with John Wangai on four under par 209.

“My take off from the tee was just bad and it really made me drop a number of shots as I was struggling to make some recovery in almost every hole, but will see how it works tomorrow," said Odoh.

The Leader board;

Robson Chinhoi (Zim) 67, 69, 65= 201
Dismas Indiza 68, 69, 67= 204
Simon Ngige 69, 71, 66= 206
Andrew Odoh (Nig) 66, 70, 73= 209
John Wangai 68, 72, 69= 209
Victor Mapwanya (Zim) 68, 73, 70= 211
David Wakhu 69, 72, 72= 213
Rizwan Charania 69, 73, 71= 213