Ooko, Ngige share lead after round three at Safari Tour

Royal Nairobi Golf club’s Erick Ooko rediscovered his fine form on round three of his home leg of the Safari Tour Golf Series, carding a round leading score of 3-under par 69, to see him tied at the top of the leaderboard alongside Thika Golf Club’s Simon Ngige – who shot a round of 2 over par.

Ooko, who had a share of the lead after round one before crumbling in the second round, recovered superbly today to make the most of the overnight leader’s slip up. The home pro started his round in strong fashion, hitting two birdies in the opening five holes while holding par through the rest, he then hit a bogey on the par-3 sixth, before recovering immediately with a birdie on the 7th to wrap up his front nine with another bogey on the ninth for a 1-under par score.

His conservative approach in the second nine paid off as he hit two birdies – at the par-5,15th and par-4,18th – while holding par through the rest of the holes to return a round score of 3-under par 69.

Speaking after his round, Ooko expressed his delight in getting his form back after yesterday’s slip up as he looked forward to the final round, “I needed to play well today, especially after yesterday. I am happy with my performance and look forward to an even better showing tomorrow.”

On his part Simon Ngige played a round of 2 over par, 74, after a double bogey on the par-3 13th, which he failed to recover from. The duo sits five shots ahead of the chasing pack, led by Golf Park’s Tony Omuli who played a round of par to take his gross score to 3 over par, 219, one shot ahead of Johnnie Walker sponsored Dismas Indiza who has had a slow tournament so far.

Kennedy Abuto and Amateur Daniel Nduva are tied in 5th place on gross scores of 5 over par, 221, the quartet of Golf Park’s David Wakhu, Sigona Golf Club’s Mohit Mediratta, Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s Keneth Bollo and Windsor Golf Club’s Riz Charania sit tied in 7th place, on 6 over par, 222.

Action in the final round will tee off at 8:30am, with the winner of the third leg of the 2019/20 Safari tour, set to be crowned at around 2:00pm

The 2019/2020 Safari Tour Golf Series is proudly sponsored by Magical Kenya and Absa.