•On his part, Ngige rued his missed chances, while congratulating Indiza for a great game.
•Amateur Simon Njogu took full advantage of playing in his home club, to lift the silver salver, after finishing in seventh on a score of 294.
Image: COURTESY
Dismas Indiza played a round of 1-under par, 70, to take his overall score to 1-over par, 285, earning him the Great Rift Valley Lodge & Golf Resort, Safari Tour title.
The hard hitting Johnnie Walker-sponsored Indiza started the round, six strokes behind overnight leader, Simon Ngige and with the two drawn to play alongside each other from the last group, it was always going to be an exciting end to the tournament.
Ngige opened his round with a birdie on the par-4 first with Indiza bogeying on the same. The scores were reversed on the par-4 second, as Indiza hit birdie with Ngige dropping a shot. Ngige would drop a further two shots on the third with Indiza holding par.
It was still advantage for Ngige through the first nine as he did enough to hold off Indiza despite dropping a shot at the seventh for a turning score of 2-over par, 37, with Indiza carding 1-over par, 36.
At the back nine, Indiza pressed the pedal to the metal as Ngige simply failed to keep pace. The two matched each other through holes 10 to 12, posting scores of par, par and bogey. Apart from the par-4 16th, it was the only time Ngige matched Indiza’s score on the back nine.
Ngige posted a bogey and a double-bogey on the 14th and 15th respectively as Indiza held par, pushing the game into the last three holes with Ngige holding a one-shot lead. They both held par at the 16th before Indiza birdied the par-5, 17th, to tie for the lead heading into the last hole, the par-4, 18th. Ngige then held for par as Indiza sunk a 10-foot putt for birdie and the Great Rift Valley Lodge & Golf Resort, Safari tour title.
Speaking after the win, Indiza was pleasantly surprised to get his hands on his second Safari Tour title this season. “I am very happy to win this leg of the Safari Tour. I actually had not realised that I had beaten Ngige and was preparing for a playoff, only for Ngige to congratulate me at the end of the round.”
“It has been a challenging four days, but I tried to maintain my game despite the changing weather and I am pleased with the result. I will keep working towards winning the other legs and ultimately qualifying for the 2020 Magical Kenya Open,” he added.
On his part, Ngige rued his missed chances, while congratulating Indiza for a great game. “I could have wrapped up the title at several points in the round. I started well but failed to keep up with Dismas. Congratulations to him for a great round of golf,” he said.
For his troubles, Indiza pocketed Sh105,000 and a maximum 50 ‘Road to the 2020 Magical Kenya Open’ points, to take his total to 290.6 at the top of the standings. Ngige took home Sh75,000 and posted 48 points to take him into third place. Nigeria’s Andrew Oche Odoh finished in third, with a gross score of 4-over par, 288—two shots behind Ngige and three behind the winner. With Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi finishing in fourth with a gross score of 292.
Amateur Simon Njogu took full advantage of playing in his home club, to lift the silver salver, after finishing in seventh on a score of 294.
Attention now shifts to the Muthaiga Golf Club which will play host of the seventh leg of the 2019/20 Safari Tour from the 14th - 17th of December 2019.