Spaniard Jorge Campillo carded five under 66 in the final round of the Magical Kenya Open at Muthaiga to claim his third win on the DP World Tour and Kshs 43.5 million prize money.
Staring the day in pole position with a stroke advantage, the Spaniard never looked back as he took full control of the contest with six birdies and only dropped one shot.
The contest was brought to life when Masahiro Kawamura birdied number three, four and five to go one shot behind Campillo. However, the Spaniard stretched the lead to three shots at the interval after birdieing number six, seven and eight.
Campillo birdied number 10 but dropped a shot on number 11 to reduce his lead to two shots. Kawamura failed to capitalize on the slip after he three-putted on number 13 for a costly bogey.
Campillo then resorted to cautious play as he protected the two-shot lead. A perfect approach shot on number 17 saw the Spaniard pick another shot to head to the final tee box with a comfortable three-shot lead. He parred no.18 to lift his first trophy in three years as Kawamura birdied to finish second on -16 and taking home Kshs 28 million.
“I played great all day, beside that little short putt I missed on 11. It was a good day, after missing that putt I knew I had to play very well to win the tournament with some tough holes coming up. It was a good day and it’s such a special feeling to win a golf tournament. The crowds were quite fun here and you know the history of the tournament is quite nice as well, “said Campillo who finished T13 in last year’s tournament.
He now moves to eighth on the Race to Dubai Rankings up from 46th. He also goes up in the World Golf Rankings to 154th from 257th, his highest ranking since March 2021.
Santiago Tarrio and Ryo Hisatsune finished joint third on -15 to take home Kshs 14.5 million each.
Meanwhile, Mutahi Kibugu, the only Kenyan to make the cut, finished T65 on -1 after carding two over par 73 in the final round. After carefully navigating the front nine where he finished on level par, Kibugu collapsed on the back nine with bogeys on number 10, 11 and 16. He however finished in style with a birdie on 18.
“I’m pretty pleased with how I played over the four days. Today I just let it go early on the back nine. But I finished strong, have my chin up and I’m pleased with my performance. I’m going to take all the positives out of this week, head back to South Africa, try to pre-qualify for some events. I’m getting the rhythm and I’m heading in the right direction. I just need to play more tournaments and keep going,” said Kibugu who took home Kshs 527,000.
DAY 4 LEADERBOARD
J Campillo -18
M Kawamura -16
S Tarrio -15
R Hisatsune -15
L Nemecz -14
B Virto -14
R Macintyre -13
J Schaper -13
J Brun -13
A Chesters -13
