Greg Snow delivered a fine display of hitting and putting prowess to take control of the third leg of the 2023/24 Safari Tour Golf Series at the Par72 Sigona Golf Club course on Tuesday.
The high-flying Muthaiga pro shot a four-under-par 68 in his third and penultimate round to build an impressive four-stroke lead ahead of home pro and Day Two leader Mohit Mediratta.
Snow had his third-round campaign effectively sewn up when Modiratta suffered a bogey on the par four 12th and a disappointing triple bogey on the par four 13th.
Despite dropping three shots in holes 14, 16 and 18, Snow made seven birdies at the lush green Sigona course – three in a row from the third to the fifth holes and another at the 9th hole – for a total of 32 in the front nine.
Snow drove the ball well on the fairways, which put him in better positions to attack and make birdies much to the chagrin of his course adversaries.
On his way up, Snow — one of Kenya’s finest pro golfers of his generation — has so far savoured a Day One eagle, 16 birdies, parred the course 29 times and shot eight bogies.
And after three days of brilliant displays, made up of 69 in both of rounds One and Two and 68 in the third, Snow goes into Wednesday’s closing round determined to stamp his authority in the “Road To Kenya Open” series.
Mediratta is second on the leaderboard with six-under, followed by Njoroge Kibugu and Samuel Njoroge who are tied for fourth on five-under.
Safari Tour season six leader Dismas Indiza is fifth on four-under. Indiza staged a stunning comeback after closing Day One with a one-over-par 73 which saw him miss out on the top ten places.
The leading foreigners are Malawian Paul Chidale and Ugandan Ainamani Abraham who are tied for 13th alongside home pro CJ Wangai on +3.
Visitor Mapwanya of Zimbabwe is joint 16 on +5.
The Safari Tour is being used to select local and regional pros for the DP World Tour Magical Kenya Open scheduled for February 22-25 at Muthaiga.
A total of eight Kenyan professionals and two from the region will qualify through the Safari Tour.
Indiza currently tops the series with 122.5 points after winning Uganda Open and finishing second during the second round at Vet Lab, where home pro Mike Kisia reigned supreme in a gross score of 292.
Daniel Nduva from Mombasa is second on the order of merit with 99 points followed by Railways’ Samuel Njoroge on 97.5.
Over 50 golfers from Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Malawi and the hosts Kenya registered for this year’s four-day contest.
Limuru Country Club will host the fourth round on January 13-17 followed by Royal Nairobi (January 20-24), Muthaiga (27-31) and Karen Country Club (February 3-7).
Safari Tour Round 3 Leaderboard
1. Snow Greg -10
2. Mediratta Mohit -6
T3. Kibugu Njoroge -5
T3. Njoroge Samuel -5
5. Indiza, Dismas -4
6 Charania Riz -3
7. Omuli Tony -2
T8. Kisia Mike Par
T8. Kibugu Mutahi Par
T8. Nduva Daniel Par
T11. Erick Ooko +2
T11. Ngige Simon +2
