Zimbabwean star Chinhoi wins third Safari Tour title at Nyali

Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi shook off stiff competition to beat Kenya’s Dismas Indiza by a solitary shot to wrap up the seventh leg of the 2021 Safari Tour Pro Golf Series at the par 71 Nyali Golf and Country Club yesterday.

The Ugandan Open champion, who has been camping in Kenya since the season started, blamed his poor putting for not posting under par scores in his win. This was Chinho’s third win in the series, which is being used as a qualifier for the European Tour Magical Kenya Open.

“I am hitting the ball pretty well so far but putting was bad and it has actually been bad since I went home after the 2019/2020 season considering I didn’t play or practise,” said Chinhoi who also won the second leg at Royal Nairobi.

He said the course was easy and it wasn’t difficult posting good scores as long as one putted well. “It’s a playable course apart from a few holes which were a bit tricky. All in all, I am happy I am all set for the Magical Kenya Open though I will have to work on my putting to make sure I am ready,” he added.

Chinhoi started the day well, picking up an early birdie at the par five-first hole but hit a bad approach at the second hole, to drop two shots there. He then managed to pick one back at the fifth.

At the back nine, Chinhoi birdied the 11th and parred all the way up to the 18th, where he had a long putt for a birdie. He missed the birdie plus a par to finish the round with a bogey and one over par 72 which gave him an all round total of one over par 285 to pocket Sh150,000.

It was a great day for the veteran Dismas Indiza who fired a bogey-free five under par 66 on a tough day, to jump to the second place where he tied with Muthaiga’s Greg Snow on two over par 286. He made three successive birdies on the third, fourth and fifth to carry a three under par score to the back nine.

He played a rather conservative back nine, where he parred all the way to the par five-17th, where he eagled the hole. He missed the green at the 18th, but chipped well to about a foot, for an easy par and the day’s 66.

“I am now driving well after getting myself a new Callaway driver at the Nyali pro shop and I believe it made the difference in my final round. However, my putting is still not very fine though I am working on it and hopefully, I should be able to return a better score at Muthaiga next week,” said Indiza.

Snow, who shot three under par 68 for 286, said his focus now is on the Magical Kenya Open. “I obviously wish to play well at Muthaiga and probably post a better score than 13 under last season. My focus right now is on the Kenya Open next month,” said Snow who also leads in the Safari Tour Order of Merit.

It was, however, a total collapse for Day 3 leader Simon Ngige who dropped shot after shot to eventually finish with six over par 77.

This saw him drop to fourth place on five over par 289 and a pay cheque of Sh75,000 while Indiza and Snow took home Sh90,000 each. On the other hand, Golf Park’s David Wakhu shot seven over par 78 to finish fourth on 10 over par 294.

He had started well, picking up a birdie at the first hole, but made several three-putts to bogey the third, eighth and ninth in the front nine and the 10th, 12th, 16th and 177th holes. “Slow play particularly on the greens just got into my head and I could not drop in even some easy putts though I was hitting the ball well off the tee,” said Wakhu. Action in the tour now shift to Muthaiga for the eighth leg which starts with the Pro-Am on Saturday before the pros embark on the main event from Sunday.

Leader board

Robson Chinhoi (Zim) 73, 69, 71, 72= 285

Dismas Indiza 75, 72, 73, 66= 286

Greg Snow 72, 73, 73, 68= 286

Simon Ngige 70, 70, 72, 77= 289

David Wakhu 73, 66, 77, 78= 294

Mathew Wahome 76, 73, 73, 73=295

Justus Madoya 73, 73, 76, 74=296

Eric Ooko 71, 77, 77, 72=297

Mike Kisia 75, 73, 73, 76= 297.