Trio tops Nyali leader board going into round three

Golf Park’s David Wakhu shot an impressive round of 69 on day two of the par-71 Nyali Golf and Country Club leg of the Safari Tour Golf Series to go top the leader board alongside Railway’s Alfred Nandwa and Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s Dennis Saikwa with a 2-over par 144 overall score.

Wakhu, who won the Nyali leg of the inaugural Safari Tour series last year and who led his PRO-AM team to victory at the weekend, shrugged off Sunday’s struggles where he had returned a score of 4-over par 75, to record the leg’s joint lowest score so far.

Nandwa continued with his steady form at the tournament by returning a decent 2-over par 73 score for the round to see him remain joint leader. On his part, Saikwa held his never to record a consecutive round of 72 at the tournament to jump to the lead. It is the first time in the Safari Tour series that both Nandwa and Saikwa are making an appearance at the top of the leader board.

Nyali’s resident professional golfer, Njuguna Ngugi, impressed by returning a score of 2-under par 69 which saw him jump up the standings to end the day tied in fourth alongside Greg Snow at 4-over par 146 overall. Njuguna got off to a shaky start at the tournament yesterday when he finished the round with a 6-over par 77 score. He now heads into the final two rounds of the tournament with win in his sails having scored the event’s joint lowest score.

Matthew Wahome, who is making his professional career debut at the event, finished the round in sixth, having returned an overall score of 5-over par 147; marking a commendable start to his professional career.

The 13-year-old Andrew Wahome, an upcoming Nyali junior golfer who made history by being the youngest ever entrant at the tournament, honoured the invitation he received to play in the Safari Tour by finishing strong with a Round 2 score of 4-over par 75.

Speaking after his round the young Wahome said it was a great privilege to play alongside East Africas best golfers, adding that it is his hope that the Safari Tour organizers will keep inviting all upcoming juniors to these events

“I have learnt a lot playing alongside these top Pros. Today I played with Simon Ngige and Sullivan Muthugia and it was a humbling experience. It is my hope that the Tour will keep inviting more junior golfers to come and play and get the experience of playing alongside our top Pros,” he said.

Today’s round was hit by some showers in the morning which led to high humidity that made it difficult to drive the ball long. In the afternoon, however, the weather changed giving way to cool conditions that made for easier scoring.

Meanwhile, 23 players made the cut to play in the last two rounds of the tournament while a further 23 missed out. Daniel Nduva emerged as the only amateur to make it through the final rounds having posted an impressive 1-over par 72 round yesterday which he combined with today’s round of 80 to beat the cut which was set at 10-over.

Action for the third round of the tournament will tee off tomorrow at 10:00am with Nduva and Justus Madoya first off the tee.