Magical Kenya Open: Gavins fires his way to the top, Kenyans stutter

England’s Daniel Gavins on Thursday fired his way to the top of the leaderboard with an impressive seven under par 64, to lead the field of 142 players into the second round of the 2022 Magical Kenya Open presented ABSA at the par 71 Muthaiga Golf Club course.

Leeds native Gavins, who was in the team of Spain’s Adrian Otaegui and Italian Renato Paratore, produced an impressive opening nine which included five birdies, three of them back-to-back, and at the seventh and ninth which saw him carry to the back nine a five under par score.

He set off to the back nine with a birdie at the par five-10th, but dropped two shots at the short-hole-13 and soon after at the 14th.

He, however, was able to birdie the last three holes, to overtake American Johannes Veerman who had led for an hour on six under par 65 until Gavins arrived to take charge of the leaderboard.

Veerman, who teed off from the 10th, eagled the 10th hole for a start, before picking up birdies at the 12th, 17th and 18th for a low 30. And despite making two back-to-back birdies at the fourth and fifth, a bogey at the eighth was to deny him a share of the lead.

Veerman was later joined by India’s Shubhankar Sharma who also shot six under par late in the afternoon to remain a shot behind the leader.

Also making an early attempt to the top was England’s Lee Slattery, who shot five under par 66, a round that included six birdies and one bogey.

Behind Slattery was a bunch of four players led by South Africa’s Dean Burmester on four under par 67. Also in that list was Wil Besseling of the Netherlands, Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura and Ewen Ferguson of England.

Malawi’s Paul Chidale was the best placed of the Safari Tour qualifiers after firing three under par 68 to keep alive his dream of a DP World Tour cut.

“The course was long and the greens were hard and very very fast, completely different from the way they were where we played here during the Safari Tour final leg. All the same, I am very happy with my round today, and I will try and keep it easy, with a level par or better being my target,’’ said Chidale.

Of the 16 Kenyans, it was junior amateur Njoroge Kibugu who was able to produce a better score, a one under par which left him in joint 42nd overall.

Kibugu, who blamed his tee take off, made two birdies in the front nine having started with a bogey at the first hole and later on at the 16th. He however closed the day with a birdie at the 18th for his one under par 70.

“I feel good starting off on under par though it could have definitely been better than one under. I was not very happy with my take off though I hope to try and get my drivers on the fairways tomorrow," said Kibugu.

Of the local pros, Muthaiga’s Greg Snow who was on three under at one stage, dropped a number of shots to finish on level par 71, same with Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi while Kenya’s leading amateur Adel Balala, pro Erick Ooko, Samuel Njoroge were on one over par 72.

Meanwhile, two players withdrew from the tournament, leaving a field of 142 to battle it out for Friday’s second round. Richard Hansell from England retired from the second round due to wrist injury. He had shot 10 over par 81 in the first round, while Sean Crocker from the USA withdrew after only five holes because of illness.

The leaderboard:

Daniel Gavins (Eng) 64

Johannes Veerman (USA) 65

Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 65

Lee Slattery (Eng) 66

Ewen Fergusson(Sco) 66

Dean Burmester (SA) 67

Wil Besseling (Neth) 67

Masahiro Kawamura(Jap) 67

Hui Linm Zhang(Ch)  67