Magical Kenya Open: Local golfers fail to make cut

Unlike last year where home player Mutahi Kibugu fought his way to the last day of the Magical Kenya Open, none of the nine local pros and four amateurs were able to make the level par second round cut.

In fact, it was the 55 years old Dismas Indiza, who came closer after firing one under par 70 which however could only give him a total of two over 144, same as in last year’s tournament.

Indiza, blamed his poor putt at the sixth hole which saw him drop his first shot of the day, and from there, he was not able to stay focused in the remaining holes of the first nine where he dropped more shots at the seventh and eighth.

He however played the back nine well, picking up birdies at the 10th, 12th, 15th and at the 18th, having missed close putts for birdies at the 16th and 17th holes.

Speaking after his round, Indiza said:

“It's tough playing against the visiting players who have had good exposure and experience by playing in many events of the same level as the Magical Kenya Open. We have very good players here but they need to be given the exposure by playing in some of the tours like Sunshine, and others like the Asian Tour.’’

He said playing six events in the Safari Tour is not good enough to prepare Kenyan players.

“We have good players who are younger than me and given the chance, they can go very far and compete on an equal terms with the visiting players,” added Indiza who has featured in the Kenya Open for 26 years now though he has not been able to go through the cut for the past five years.

Besides Indiza, other players who came closer to making the level par cut were Njoroge Kibugu  who however shot 74 in the second round after dropping a number of shots to finish on 145 having played level par 71 in the opening round.

On the other hand, Kenya’s top amateur Michael Karanga also played well in the second round, where he fired level par 71, but it was an improvement coming rather late. He made six birdies but dropped an equal number of shots.

“My driver let me down when I real wanted to play well and recover the first round four shots. During the first round, I tried my best to save pars, while today I was trying to save bogeys. I was all set and prepared for the event, but my driver and some few bad putts let me down badly," said Karanga. 

It was however a great day for the Ugandans who travelled for the pro-am event courtesy of ABSA as one of the Ugandan pros Ronald Rugumayo fought his way to the money list after firing one under par thanks to four birdies including at the ninth for his 70 which gave him a two rounds total of one under par 142.