Indiza, Snow renew rivalry as KCB Tour tees off
The rivalry between two of Kenya’s finest pro golfers Dismas Indiza and Greg Snow will be the main attraction in the opening leg of the 2015 KCB Golf Tour which starts at Royal Nairobi Golf Club today.
Much is anticipated from both Snow and Indiza who were incidentally the best placed local pros at last year’s Kenya Open.
There should be some good-humoured banter between supporters of the two golfers as pros fight for the Sh1,000,000 prize money at stake on the Royal tour.
Last week’s KQ Golf Safari at Vet Lab saw Snow vanquish two rounds leader Indiza and Nakuru’s Richard Ainley by two shots to register his first victory locally after over a year.
But Indiza candidly admitted he is determined to end the jinx that stymied his early lead at Vet Lab.
“I played badly last week. Its my hope that this improves going into the Royal event. I think at the moment I’m playing some good golf only that lady luck hasn’t smiled on me,” said Indiza who was among the three players Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) sponsored to play in the Sunshine Tour in George and Johannesburg.
Indiza said his swing is closer to where he wants it to be and that he’s confident with his technique.
Trailing Indiza by six shots prior to the tee-off of the final round at Vet Lab last Friday, Snow, recovered from three early bogeys at the first nine to finally post a one over par 73 and a three rounds total of 221 gross. Snow is an international pro golfer based at Royal Nairobi at the moment. He is currently sourcing for a potential sponsor to enable him partake the Tour School programme whose venues are spread in various European cities in Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and England.
Qualifiers in the Tour School earn a European International Tour card, which allows them to play in most of the open events that offer a minimum of 500,000 euros (Sh53.8 million).
Meanwhile, top amateurs in the Golfer of the Year (GOTY) series have the opportunity to play against top seasoned Kenyan pros in today’s KCB event at Royal.
The event will tee-off with a four round 72 hole pro tournament running from today through to Friday, March 13. The remaining big chunk of amateurs with higher handicaps have been drawn in an 18 hole stableford corporate round on Saturday March 14.
Current GOTY leader Justus Madoya of Rift Valley Golf Resort tees-off at 9.16am from the first tee in the company of Nakuru resident pro Richard Ainley and Tony Omuli who featured prominently in last year’s GOTY series before turning professional late last year.
Omuli will be treading on familiar ground and shall be battling his past amateur adversaries.
Reigning two times GOTY champion John Karichu will tee off from the tenth tee alongside Nyali resident pro Kopan Timbe and home pro Eric Ooko.
