Muthaiga golfer seals rare hat-trick as he claims Safari Tour Series
Webster Nyandika
Muthaiga’s Greg Snow is the winner of the ninth round of the Safari Tour Golf Series.
He posted a 2-under par 70 score on the final day at the Sigona Golf Club to take his tournament total to 8-under par 280, four shots clear of his nearest challenger.
Snow carded a first nine total of 35, having holed a birdie at the par-4 second, and an eagle three at the ninth, enough to cancel out bogeys at the par-5 fourth and the par-4 eighth.
On the back nine, he got off to a birdie at the challenging par-5 10th before picking a bogey at the par-3 14th. He followed it up with a birdie at the par-5 15th to card a back nine total of 35.
The outstanding performance saw Snow make history as the first player to record a hat-trick of consecutive Safari Tour wins (Muthaiga, Thika and Sigona), leaving him in a league of his own as the only golfer to record four Safari Tour victories in a season.
Snow now leads the road to the 2020 Kenya Open ranking with 350 points, having dislodged Dismas Indiza (347 points), and he has no intentions of letting it go.
“My goal is to win the order of merit like I did last year. There are still two more events to go. Being at the top feels good but staying up there is a different story all together,” said Snow, who banked Sh150,000 for his win.
Zimbabwean Robson Chinhoi finished four shots behind Snow, having posted an impressive 2-under par 70 score to take his total for the tournament to 4-under par 284.
His performance at this event marks his best outing this season, having only played in four events, and his highest finish being fourth at the Great Rift Valley and Golf Resort outing.
He had a tricky first nine, carding a total of 37 courtesy of a double-bogey at the par-5 fourth and having only made a lone birdie at the par-4 seventh.
The back nine proved more responsive, where he played blemish-free and picked up birdies at the 10th, 14th and 15th to card a total of 33. For his stellar outing, he took home Sh100,000.
Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s Erick Ooko completed the podium, having played a 2-over par 74 round to take his total for the event to 1-over par 289, taking home Sh56,000.
Windor’s Riz Charania finished in solitary fourth while John Karicu and Simon Ngige ended their campaign tied in fifth.
