Great Rift Valley’s Justus Madoya shot a round of 3-under par, 68, to retake the lead at the Muthaiga Golf Club Safari Tour leg, on a gross score of 3-over par, 216 after the Round Three of action.
Madoya, who had relinquished the lead to Greg Snow after Round Two, shot two birdies — on the par-5 fourth and par-three fifth while dropping one shot at the par-3 second in the front nine, for a turning score of 1-under par, 35.
Further birdies at the 10th, 14th and 18th coupled with a sole bogey at the 12th, saw him return a round score of 3-under par 68.
Madoya said strong putting was one of the reasons behind his display.
“I played much better today. My putting improved from yesterday (Monday), and I hope I can play the same tomorrow (today), post an even better score and eventually win the tournament,” said Madoya.
Snow failed to recover from an opening pair of bogeys at the first and second, dropping further shots at the fifth and seventh in the front nine. A birdie at the 10th followed by three scores of par in the next holes seemed to have halted the slide. It was, however, short-lived as he dropped another shot at the par-4 14th and compounded his woes with a double bogey on the 18th, for a round score of 6-over par, 78.
The display saw him drop three places on the leaderboard with an overall score of 6-over par, 219, three shots behind Madoya.
The day’s best score came from Golf Park’s David Wakhu, who carded a score of 4-under par, 67, off a strong display in the front nine, where he bagged four of his five birdies in the round, taking his gross score to 5-over par, 218.
He went into the night joint-second, alongside Thika Golf Club’s Simon Ngige, who shot a round of par.
The stage is set for a pulsating finish to the eighth leg of the 2019/20 Safari Tour, with up to eight players in contention for the title. The battle for the amateur silver salver also goes down to the wire with Mutahi Kibugu and Daniel Nduva tied in seventh place on a gross score of 7-over par, 220. Round Four action tees off at 7:30 am today.
