Kenya finally went up at the close of Thursday afternoon’s round two in the ongoing Africa Region 4 golf championship here at the par 71 Bujumbura Golf Club course.
The Kenyan team captain Samuel Njoroge fired one under par 70 same as in the morning round, where he had been wrongly given 77, while Mutahi Kibugu carded five over par 76 and Simon Njogu’s 78, which gave them 224 gross for 3 points and a total of 441 gross for a total of 5.5 points.
During the morning round, Kenya had been given 224 gross instead of 217, which had left them two points behind Tanzania, who however, dropped to second place with 233 in the afternoon for a total of 448 gross for two points and a total of 5 points.
“We are excited and very happy for the afternoon round though our wish was to have at lease two under par scores,” said team captain Samuel Njoroge, who said Kenya was determined to re-capture the trophy from their arch-rivals Uganda, who finished round two in third place on 460 gross 2.5 points which gave them a total of four points.
The best score for the Tanzanians was a 76 by Victor Joseph and Abbas Adam, while the third score, an 81 was posted by Richard Mtweve.
The defending champions were led by Rodell Gaita, who fired 76 with Joseph Chinywai and Godfrey Nsubuga firing 78 each.
Hosts Burundi’s A team dropped to fourth place after a second round score of 237 for 461 with only 3 points. Their B team was fifth on 476, while Ethiopia remained last with 491.
This year, the East African Golf Confederation decided to change the format to 72 hole stroke play qualifying event, before the event goes into the match play singles and foursomes in the last day,
where the first and second placed teams will vie for the gold and silver.
This is because of the low turn out this year compared to last year’s tournament in Mombasa where eight teams participated. The third and fourth round on Friday will tee off from 8am and at noon.
