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Safari Tour: Red-hot Snow turns the tables at Muthaiga

Muthaiga Club player Greg Snow overturned a four strokes deficit to move into pole position after a superb three under 68 round today in the third round of the Safari Tour leg.

Motivated by the quest to reclaim the Safari Tour season title, Snow swung into action stoically and had already halved the deficit at the interval despite posting a double bogey on the par par-5 seventh. The former champion put in a near-perfect display on the back nine headlined by an eagle on no. 18 and a birdie on no.14 but was momentarily pegged back by a bogey on no.17.

“Generally I played well today save for a few holes where I switched off a bit. My iron play was really solid as I put myself in good positions to make birdie putts. The course is really firming up and the wind is getting stronger these, coupled with relatively slow greens makes it quite challenging, “ he said.

If he triumphs tomorrow, it will be Snow’s first win on the Tour this season and it will guarantee him a top finish on the order of merit. He currently trails the series leader Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi by 10 points.

“I am definitely motivated by the ambition to reclaim the Tour title. That’s obviously a goal I set each year before the schedule starts,” said Snow.

Second round leader Mutahi Kibugu dropped one place on the leaderboard and will rue the double bogey on par-3 second though he recovered fast with a birdie on the par-4 fifth.  Kibugu had a relatively poor back nine failing to capitalize on the easy-playing par-5s and managed only one birdie on the par-3 13th as he went on to drop shots on the 10th and 14th for a round of two over 73. He is currently tied in second position with Rwanda’s Alloys Nsabimana, one stroke off the pace.

The day’s biggest mover was Jastas Madoya who rose eight places after shooting four under 67, the day’s best round. Madoya who lost in the playoff last week was in impeccable form producing a bogey-free round as he rolled in five birdies.

Day one co-leader Samuel Njoroge continued to fade after a high-scoring round of eight over 79 saw him drop to position T11.

As the race for Magical Kenya Open slots hots up, the players to watch tomorrow include Visitor Mapwanya, Ronald Rugumayo and Nyasha Muyambo who are battling for the two slots reserved for foreign pros. Mapwanya and Rugumayo have a chance of dethroning Chinhoi if they gather more than 20 points.

Erick Ooko, C J Wangai and Tony Omuli still, mathematically, have a slim chance of sneaking through but they will have to dig deep tomorrow to upset the apple cart.

LEADERBOARD DAY 3

PLAYER               SCORE

G Snow              -3 

M Kibugu          -2

A Nsabimana  -2

J Madoya        -1

D Nduva          -1

R Gaita            -1

V Mapwanya  Par

N Muyambo   +3

D Indiza          +4

J Sandhu         +4

S Njoroge       +5

E Ooko            +5

M Kisia          +5

P Sombreiro  +5

C J Wangai   +6

M Mediratta +6

T Omuli         +7

F Matilo        +7

S Opio            +9

R Rugumayo  +9

A Galgalo      +9

S Ngige         +11

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