Success in golf often requires hard work and long hours, and Kenyan pro Rizwan Caharania is leaving nothing to chance at this year’s Kenya Open Golf
championship.
Riz was the leading Kenyan pro with a round of 2 under par 69, posting the same as defending champion
Darius van Driel.
With an apparently insatiable appetite for success, Charania is already psyching up for day two that will seperate the boys from men.
Those making the cut will be determined in tomorrow•s round which marks the tournament’s first half.
Charania teed off from the first tee and hopes to pull out all stops in his quest for the cut.
Speaking after his round. Charania (2 under par 69) said, “Two under par is not so bad, hole 7 was actually a three- putt, so that was quite unfortunate. I just lost focus there for a second, and I had quite a poor second shot on the 14th which led to the bogey.”
He added: “For the first round I’m still in the tournament, I will take this challenge for sure, happy for the day. I did not make many mistakes on day one. Tomorrow afternoon the conditions will be a bit different, this morning the greens were bit softer.”
Daniel Nduva was the second best Kenya in afternoon with a minus 1.
It was a bad day in the office though for Dismas Indiza who managed a plus 4.
Indiza: “I think I was a bit nervous today, I tried to play well, but it was just a bad day at the office.. Let’s see how other Kenyans play today and how it goes. But we still have tomorrow, meaning I will need a very low score to survive the axe, tomorrow is the day. At times I hit the ball thinking all is well, only to see dip into the waters.”
Indiza added: “ I really can’t complain I just tried to soldere on. I will go to the range and do some putting chips. l’ll take a good sleep and see what tomorrow present. Tomorrow we will tee it up in the afternoon, so fingers crossed, conditions will be tougher. At my age I can hit the ball well, it’s only play time that we Kenyans are lacking.”
Mutahi Kibugu made a an eagle on the par 5 18th to slavage his chances going into the second half of the tournment.
Mutahi was well on course for a good score until he his a double bogey on tje 15th to finish his day at 2 over par 73.
Mutahi: “I hit it good off the tees, but I really struggled with my second shots, I normally hit the field by today,.but the I couldn’t just cut the ball. So I am going to work on that in the range.”
Asked about his strategy on Day Two Mutahi added: “I know tomorrow will be a good day, I finished with an eagle on the last hole (18th) which really good. But I just didn’t capitalise on my T shots, so I am gonna work on that. I picked up a double bogey on the 15th butstill kept my head up despite the predicament. I knew 16 and 17 were gettable. I always keep my head up I can make birdies out of nothing.”
Local Leaders day one
Charania -2
Nduva -1
Mutahi +2
Snow +2
