Dismas Indiza started off his 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship campaign to a flyer, finishing 2-under par 69 to leave him in fifth by the time he left the 18th green. He started his round from the par-4, 10th tee with a birdie before following it up with another at the par-5,11th.
The Johnnie Walker-sponsored player, however, struggled to hole consecutive bogeys at the par-5, 12th, par-4, 13th and par-3, 14th holes before holding par on the rest of the holes for a total of 37.
He rediscovered his groove on the first nine for a blemish-free form to hole birdies on the par-3 fourth, par-5 sixth and par-4, seventh holes for a total of 32.
“I tried my best to play well since I started with consecutive birdied at the 10th and the 11th holes before struggling at the 12th, 13th and 14th holes; but I later calmed down and started playing well but it was generally a decent outing for me today and I felt that I don’t have much to improve on going into round two tomorrow,” said the Mumias-based golfer.
“The course is in good shape; the fairways are a bit dry, but the greens are in very great shape. It got tricky with the wind in the morning, but I can only sympathize with the afternoon groups when the wind really picks up here.”
Indiza tees off at the first tee on Friday at 1:00pm alongside India’s Shubhankar Sharma (who finished 3-over par 74) and Spain’s Adri Arnaus (who finished 5-under par 66 to top the leaderboard as of 3:00pm on Round One).
Pro-Am winner Renato Paratore shot three strokes over at the end of the opening round.