Chinhoi stars in final round to win Sigona Safari Tour

Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi made a strong comeback in the final round of the 2022/23 Safari Tour fourth leg at the par 72 Sigona Golf Club, with an encouraging three under par 69, to clinch the top cash prize with an all rounds total of five under par 283 on Wednesday.

Starting the day four shots behind junior amateur Njoroge Kibugu, Chinhoi’s putter seemed to be better than the third round as he made three birdies at the front nine with only three bogeys coming at the second and seventh hole.

He then birdied the 10th, 13th and 15th and parred the rest, to clinch the top cash prize of Sh300,000 plus some points towards the “Road to the Magical Kenya Open 2023’’.

"Today was better as I was able to make some birdies though I dropped couple of of shots. This win enhances my chance of playing in the Magical Kenya Open in March,’’ said Chinhoi who started the season by winning the Uganda Open last October at the Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort.

He said he would to play in the fifth leg at Karen but he is not sure of playing the last event at Muthaiga Golf Club next month.

He won by four shots from Njoroge Kibugu and Muthaiga professional Greg Snow who tied for second place on one under par 287 each.

While Kibugu won the amateur trophy, Snow took home a Sh200,000 cheque for finishing second.
It was a disastrous round for the 19-year-old Kibugu who picked up a seven on the stroke index one-seventh having earlier bogeyed the first, second, fourth and sixth. The back nine was slightly better as he was able to pick up two birdies at the 10th and 11th but missed many birdie chances at the back nine to eventually wind up the tournament with a poor 77 and a total of one under par 287.

“Nothing worked well for me today, as I made some terrible shots particularly at the seventh which were very costly, but that’s golf. I would have loved to finish on a decent round but it never happened,’’ said Kibugu who leaves on February 3 for South Africa for training before he comes back for the Magical Kenya Open.

But what a day it was for Snow who started off with a birdie at the first hole though he dropped shots at the seventh and eighth but made some tremendous improvement at the back nine where he birdied from 13th to 16th. He then eagled the 17th for an impressive five under par 67 which also gave him 287.

Vet Lab Sports Club’s Isaiah Otuke shot one over par 73 in the final round to finish fourth on three over par 291 just a shot better than Sigona’s Mohit Mediratta and John Wangai who is also the resident professional at Sigona.

A total of 55 players including three amateurs featured in the fourth leg though only 21 players made the second round cut to battle it out for the cash prizes plus the points towards the 2023 Magical Kenya Open to be held at Muthaiga Golf Club from March 9 to 12.

Meanwhile the fifth leg at Karen Country Club is set for February 4 to 8.

Final leaderboard at Sigona

Robson Chinhoi (Zim) 70, 70, 74, 69= 283

Greg Snow 71, 71, 78, 67= 287

Njoroge Kibugu (a) 73, 73, 64, 77= 287

Isaiah Otuke 73, 70, 75, 73= 291

Mohit Mediratta 73, 75, 74, 70= 292

John Wangai 72, 73, 73, 74=292

Samuel Njoroge 78, 71, 72, 72= 293

Erick Ooko 72, 70, 76, 75= 293.