Home player Madoya wins Great Rift Safari Tour
Justus Madoya in action during the penultimate round of the sixth leg of the Safari Tour at the par 71 Great Rift Valley Golf Resort on January 15, 2021.
What you need to know:
- It was a tough round though for the cool Madoya who overcame a strong challenge from playing mates Abbey Bagalana of Uganda and Muthaiga’s Greg Snow, before posting a final round of two over par 73
- Before Saturday, his best in any event in the country was a tie with Sigona’s John Wangai in 2018 KCB Golf series, though he won the Entebbe Open in Uganda last year
- Meanwhile the Ugandan Bagalana picked up a number of bogeys on both the first and second nine for 78, to drop to fifth place on nine over par 293 while Greg Snow finished fourth on eight over par 292 after firing four over par 75
Home player Justus Madoya lived to expectations of his fans, by beating his close friend Robson Chinhoi from Zimbabwe and Thika Sports Club’s Simon Ngige by three shots, to claim the sixth leg of the 2021 Safari Tour golf series at the most challenging Great Rift Valley Golf Resort on Saturday.
It was a tough round though for the cool Madoya who overcame a strong challenge from playing mates Abbey Bagalana of Uganda and Muthaiga’s Greg Snow, before posting a final round of two over par 73 which gave him a tournament total of three over par 287, to win his first pro tournament in Kenya.
Before Saturday, his best in any event in the country was a tie with Sigona’s John Wangai in 2018 KCB Golf series, though he won the Entebbe Open in Uganda last year.
Starting just a shot better than Bagalana, Madoya, pushed his tee shot to the right on the first hole, chipped out well but missed the par. He however birdied the sixth and sixth holes, but dropped a shot at the seventh, to level the nine.
It was at the back nine where Madoya ran into trouble at the par three-15th. He had planned to lay-up, but instead pulled his shot to the left bush and had to go back to the tee. “I have dropped six shots this week on this hole and this is why I just wanted to lay-up but I did not get the shot I wanted,’’ said Madoya after picking up his double-bogey there.
He had an excellent drive at the par five-17th for an easy par, but hit his three wood to the right flower rock, chipped out but missed the green, to finish the day with a bogey. “Though I have won, I am not happy with my score. I would have wanted to win the tournament on under par,’’ said Madoya who won Sh150,000 plus 50 points towards the “Road to Magical Kenya Open 2021’’ at Karen.
Meanwhile the Ugandan Bagalana picked up a number of bogeys on both the first and second nine for 78, to drop to fifth place on nine over par 293 while Greg Snow finished fourth on eight over par 292 after firing four over par 75.
It was however a great finish for the Uganda Open champion Robson Chinhoi who managed to overcome his second round disastrous 82, to shoot level par 71 which saw him tie for second place with Thika-based Ngige on six over par total of 290.
“I had all the chances of playing well and win save for the bad round during the third round, but there are still three more events, and my plan is to play well in all of them for that will give me a good start in the Kenya Open,’’ said Chinhoi who won the Uganda Open with an excellent score of 15 under par.
On the other hand Nyali’s Adel Balala clinched the amateur title after a closing round of one over par 72 which saw also tie for ninth place overall with pros Jacob Okello, Mike Kisia, and Dismas Indiza on 14 over par 298.
The final leaderboard;
Justus Madoya 67, 72, 75, 73= 287
Robson Chinhoi (Zim) 71, 82, 66. 71= 290
Simon Ngige 76, 69, 74, 71= 290
Greg Snow 74, 72, 71, 75= 292
Abbey Bagalana (Ug) 71, 74, 70, 78= 293
Njuguna Ngugi 74, 78, 71, 73= 296
Mathew Omondi 80, 73, 73, 71= 297
David Wakhu 74, 73, 74, 76= 297.
