Snow wins 7th leg of Safari Tour in Thika

Greg Snow poses with his trophy after winning the seventh leg of the Safari Tour at Thika Greens Golf Resort on January 8, 2020. PHOTO | COURTESY |

What you need to know:

  • Snow shot under par par 71 in the closing round, for a grand total of five under par 283.

Muthaiga Golf Club’s Greg Snow on Wednesday beat Thika Sports Club’s Simon Ngige by three shots to claim the seventh leg title of the Safari Tour at the Thika Greens Golf Resort’s par 72 course.

Snow, who did not drop from the top of the leader board from Day One, shot under par par 71 in the closing round, for a grand total of five under par 283.

The victory was his second in the Magical Kenya and Absa Group sponsored series, having won the first leg at Nyali Golf and Country Club Mombasa last year.

He started the final round well, picking up an early birdie at the second hole, before rolling in an eagle two at the par four-fifth. Incidentally, that was his second eagle on the fifth where he has also picked up two birdies during the week. Though he later dropped shots at the eighth, 10th and 12th, a birdie finish at the 18th was good enough to give him the title.

Ngige on the other hand birdied the sixth and eight at the front nine though he threw away his chances of catching up with Snow, after dropping two back-to-back shots at the 12th and 13th for a level par 72 that could only put him in second place with a total of two under par 286.

And despite having made a slow start with two successive 74 in the first and second rounds, Golf Park’s David Wakhu fired three under in day three and level par 72 to eventually finish third overall with one over par 289. En-route to levelling the course, Wakhu birdied the second, 12th and 18th but against an equally number of bogeys over the seventh, 11th, and 16th.

“I am happy at least I am picking myself up when the Kenya Open is around the corner. I just want to sustain this form and probably try and up some section of my game in readiness for the Open," said Wakhu, who said the Thika Greens course was playing long and well protected by the rough while the greens were also tricky.

Also firing one under par 71 in the closing round, was Vet Lab Sports Club’s Mathew Omondi who had shared the second round lead with Snow and Muthaiga’s Nelson Mudanyi.

However like Mudanyi, Omondi had a bad day in office in the third day which saw him drop to 10th place though his closing round managed to bring him up to tie for fourth place with Tony Omuli, and Royal Nairobi’s Erick Ooko on two over par 290, just a shot better than Nigeria’s Andrew Odoh.

Mudanyi made an improvement, firing level par 72 but it was an improvement coming rather late as he could only tie for eighth position with his young brother Edwin who posted four over par 76 to also finish on five over par total. Action now shifts to Muthaiga Golf Club for the eighth leg next week which like all the other events, will kick off with the pro-Am this Saturday.

The final leader board:

Greg Snow 67, 73, 72, 71= 283

Simon Ngige 70, 73, 71, 72= 286

David Wakhu 74, 74, 69, 72= 289

Mathew Omondi 70, 70, 79, 71= 290

Tony Omuli 70, 76, 72, 72= 290

Erick Ooko 71, 72, 73, 74= 290

Andrew Odoh(Nig) 71, 71, 74, 75= 291

Nelson Mudanyi 75, 65, 81, 72= 293

Edwin Mudanyi 71, 73, 73, 76= 293

Kopan Timbe 76, 68, 77, 73= 294

John Wangai 76, 74, 69, 75= 294