Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort’s Justus Madoya established a three-shot lead with two rounds left to storm to the top of the Entebbe Open leaderboard.
He returned 6-under par 136 after 36 holes having shot a superb round of 66 courtesy of six birdies and a lone bogey on his card to set the perfect charge for the outright bragging rights of the tournament.
On the first nine, he posted consecutive birdies at the par-5 first and par-3 second before holing another birdie at the par-3, sixth; with his only dropped shot of the round coming at the par-4 ninth for a total of 33.
On the back nine, he played bogey-free, holing birdies at the par-4, 14th and the par-5 15th before sinking his last birdie of the round at the par-4 17th for a back nine total of 33.
He went three shots clear of Ugandan Herman Mutaawe and Wednesday’s leader, Robson Chinhoi from Zimbabwe, who finished the round tied in second with 3-under par 139 scores. Mutaawe shot a round of 69 courtesy of birdies at the par-3 sixth, par-5 11th, par-3 12th, par-5, 15th and the par-5 18th. He, however, dropped shots at the par-3 second, the par-3 16th and the par-4 17th.
Chinhoi had a difficult day on course; holing a lone birdie on the first nine and dropping five shots. He also failed to make a single birdie on the back nine for a score of 4-over par 75 for the day.
C.J. Wangai ended the round in fourth courtesy of a 1-under par 70 round that took his total for the tournament to 1-under par 141. He had a decent outing—carding 33 on the first nine courtesy of birdies at the par-5 first, par-4 sixth and the par-5 seventh and a lone bogey at the par-3 sixth.
In the back nine, he dropped shots at the par-5 11th, par-3 16th and the par-5 18th; but birdies at the par-4 14th and the par-4 17th saw him card a back nine total of 37.
Wangai finished the round one shot clear of Kopan Timbe, who ended yesterday’s round as the leading Kenyan at the tournament. Timbe had a tough day on the course— holing a solo birdie on the first nine at the par-5 seventh but sinking four bogeys for a first nine total of 38. On the back nine, he carded an identical score after he dropped four shots and holed only two birdies to finish the day with a level-par 142 score after the two rounds.
Meanwhile, 23 players, among them 11 Kenyans, made the cut—which was today set at 6-over par— to play in the remaining final rounds.
Justus Madoya, C.J. Wangai, Kopan Timbe, David Wakhu, Greg Snow and Dismas Indiza, Erick Ooko, Tony Omuli, Hesbon Kutwa, Kenneth Bollo and Edwin Mudanyi will all feature in the remaining 36 holes.
