England's Daniel Gavins took an early lead yesterday as the 2022 Magical Kenya Open teed off at the Par 71 Muthaiga Golf Course.
Gavins fired a 7 under par 64 to kick-start his spirited campaign with a one-stroke advantage over USA pro—Johannes Veerma and India’s Shubhankar Sharma.
On his way up, Gavin sunk 9 birdies to stay on course for the top prize at this year's edition which returned to Muthaiga after a long hiatus.
Gavin was all smiles after his stellar play on Day One and said: “It was pretty rusty to start with. I hadn’t played for a couple of weeks but I just started holing a few putts. My swing has been a bit off at the start of the year and I’ve been struggling a little bit with finding the feeling really, but today I felt a few things that were nice and it was positive really.”
American Veerman, who posted a round of 6 under par 65, said he felt inspired to hit great shots on Day One. He said: “I’m very happy. This course is very tight and I can't stress how big these trees are. You think you can take these carry lines but you can’t because these trees are 40 yards tall. So I’m really happy with how I played and I’m really happy with six under."
Joint fourth with 5 under are Ewen Ferguson and Lee Slattery and the sixth were Masahiro Kawamura, Dean Burmester (RSA), and Wil Besseling (Netherlands). Besseling is no stranger to Kenyan courses having won the inaugural KCB Karen Masters in 2018.
South African Burmester who played a 67 (-4) was also happy with his round despite tough course conditions. The firm greens have made the course somewhat tough to post good scores.
He said: “It was pretty solid. I kept it together when I was in trouble and I managed to find my way back to the fairway and get it up and down for pars. It’s a narrow golf course with a little bit of swirling wind so it’s always going to be tough, and the greens were firming up the last six holes.”
Round Two today will determine who goes into the money bracket for the last two days on Saturday and Sunday. A total of 156 golfers are taking part in the event.
DAY ONE LEADERBOARD
1 Gavins, Daniel (ENG) -7
2 Sharama Shubhankar (INDIA) -6
Veerman Johannes (USA) -6
4 Ferguson, Ewen -5
Slattery Lee -5 18 -5
6. Kawamura Masahiro -4
6 Dean Burmester (RSA) -4
Besseling Will (NED)-4
