Magical Kenya Open R2

Kenya Open 2021 R2

March 18-21
Karen Country Club, Nairobi, Kenya
€1,000,000
Round 1, Round 3, Round 4

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Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Scott Hend and Kalle Samooja moved into a share of the lead at the Magical Kenya Open presented by Johnnie Walker, with a packed leaderboard setting up an exciting weekend.

The short and tricky nature of Karen Country Club has resulted in a tightly bunched field after the opening two rounds, but Australian Hend and Finland’s Samooja did enough to edge one shot ahead of the rest on 11 under par.

Three-time European Tour winner Hend dropped a shot at the last to miss out on the outright lead but a seven under par round of 64 underlined a return to form after three successive missed cuts.

Kenya Open 2021 R2

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“I played quite solid, hit a lot of the par fours and par fives in regulation so I had some tap in birdies,” said Hend. “I’ve been a little inconsistent and it’s a little bit tricky out there so obviously I shot a good score but I missed a lot of putts so hopefully I can improve on that at the weekend.”

I’ll take what I get though, I’ve been playing terrible golf so far this year so it’s starting to turn around. I’ve just been driving it a bit better, putting a bit better. I’ve got a new set of irons in the bag from Titleist so it’s a combination of everything and hopefully the melon gets back on the shoulders and I can start going forward instead of losing it off in the trees.”

Kenya Open 2021 R2

Kenya Open 2021 R2

I don’t think the wind affects it that much here because you’re at so much altitude, it’s like Joburg or Crans, unless it’s blowing 40 you really don’t’ pay too much attention to it, so if it’s coming off the left you maybe take it a couple of metres left, instead of ten metres. The ball cuts through the air quite a lot here so it’s not really a big challenge.” 

Samooja, meanwhile, birdied his final hole – the ninth – for a five under par 66, the 33-year-old chasing a maiden European Tour victory at an event which has yielded good results in the past – he finished tied for sixth at Karen two years ago while he also earned a top three on the Challenge Tour at this event in 2018, at Muthaiga Country Club.

“I got off to a flying start, opening with three birdies, and then I was struggling a little bit to get quality shots,” said Samooja. “I don’t know why but I played the sixth hole really badly. It was just a bit of back luck from the rough and then a bit unlucky with the second shot, coming back into the bunker and then I struggled with the short game. 

“Then a huge bonus at seven from the front of the green, I don’t know how long it was – 50 metres, maybe more – for an eagle and then a good birdie at the last so I’m really happy with how I finished the round today. A birdie would have been good enough on seven but eagle gave me a bit of a boost for those last two holes.”

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Kenya Open 2021 R2

Scots Richie Ramsay and Connor Syme share third place with Dean Burmester of South Africa on 10 under par, with 38 more players within six shots of the lead heading into the final two days in Nairobi.

“I think I’m very fortunate around here, a lot of guys are hitting drivers and three woods and I’m just hitting two iron everywhere, and that’s my favourite club in the bag,” said Burmester. “I was ecstatic when I pitched up here on Tuesday and saw the golf course. So far it’s going well, new putter is working also. (Off the seventh) I hit two iron to the front edge today. Kenya Open 2021 R2

“If you can get on a hot streak, as long as you keep it on the fairway and in play you are going to have a lot of chances. If you’re holing putts here and there it’s easy to put in a low one. If you keep the runs going and score on the scoreable holes, you’re going to do well around here. 

“It definitely reminds me of (Harare Country Club). My mom has played well there, and won numerous tournaments around there. I was lucky enough to win there in 2015, the Zim Open. Being born there, that was awesome. The only difference is this is probably slightly flatter around the greens. Lots of irons and three woods off the tee there, and pure greens like we have here. It’s exciting and I can’t wait for the weekend.”

Kenya Open 2021 R2

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Pos.	Player	To Par	R1	R2	Total
T1	Scott Hend	-11	67	64	131
T1	Kalle Samooja	-11	65	66	131
T3	Dean Burmester	-10	68	64	132
T3	Richie Ramsay	-10	67	65	132
T3	Connor Syme	-10	65	67	132
T6	Justin Harding	-9	66	67	133
T6	Calum Hill	-9	65	68	133
T6	Raphael Jacquelin	-9	65	68	133
T6	Kurt Kitayama	-9	67	66	133
T10	Garrick Higgo	-7	67	68	135
T10	Matthew Southgate	-7	66	69	135
T12	Nino Bertasio	-6	67	69	136
T12	Jamie Donaldson	-6	69	67	136
T12	Victor Dubuisson	-6	68	68	136
T12	Jean Baptiste Gonnet	-6	68	68	136
T12	Benjamin Hebert	-6	64	72	136
T12	Sam Horsfield	-6	65	71	136
T12	Søren Kjeldsen	-6	67	69	136
T12	Guido Migliozzi	-6	71	65	136
T12	Wilco Nienaber	-6	67	69	136
T12	Bernd Ritthammer	-6	65	71	136
T12	Jack Senior	-6	68	68	136
T12	Dale Whitnell	-6	66	70	136
T24	Pep Angles	-5	70	67	137
T24	Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez	-5	67	70	137
T24	Gavin Kyle Green	-5	68	69	137
T24	Joachim B. Hansen	-5	68	69	137
T24	Romain Langasque	-5	67	70	137
T24	Francesco Laporta	-5	70	67	137
T24	Adrian Otaegui	-5	70	67	137
T24	Aaron Rai	-5	70	67	137
T24	Ricardo Santos	-5	71	66	137
T24	Matthias Schwab	-5	71	66	137
T24	Johannes Veerman	-5	68	69	137
T24	Oliver Wilson	-5	70	67	137
T24	Lars van Meijel	-5	68	69	137
T37	Gaganjeet Bhullar *	-4	66	72	138
T37	George Coetzee	-4	72	66	138
T37	Niklas Lemke *	-4	67	71	138
T37	Adrian Meronk *	-4	65	73	138
T37	Jayden Schaper	-4	68	70	138
T37	Jordan Smith *	-4	68	70	138
T37	Justin Walters *	-4	67	71	138
T44	Ashley Chesters *	-3	71	68	139
T44	Ben Evans *	-3	71	68	139
T44	Jens Fahrbring *	-3	72	67	139
T44	Darren Fichardt *	-3	69	70	139
T44	Grant Forrest *	-3	73	66	139
T44	Rikard Karlberg *	-3	71	68	139
T44	Joost Luiten *	-3	70	69	139
T44	Kyong-Jun Moon *	-3	70	69	139
T44	Damien Perrier *	-3	68	71	139
T44	Benjamin Poke *	-3	69	70	139
T44	Garrick Porteous *	-3	71	68	139
T44	JC Ritchie *	-3	69	70	139
T44	Marcel Schneider *	-3	70	69	139
T44	Robin Sciot-Siegrist *	-3	73	66	139
T44	Scott Vincent *	-3	68	71	139
T59	Richard Bland *	-2	71	69	140
T59	John Catlin *	-2	71	69	140
T59	Aaron Cockerill *	-2	71	69	140
T59	Louis De Jager *	-2	70	70	140
T59	Matt Ford *	-2	68	72	140
T59	Lorenzo Gagli *	-2	70	70	140
T59	Julien Guerrier *	-2	70	70	140
T59	Gregory Havret *	-2	67	73	140
T59	Maximilian Kieffer *	-2	68	72	140
T59	Jacques Kruyswijk *	-2	68	72	140
T59	Ondrej Lieser (a) *	-2	72	68	140
T59	Richard McEvoy *	-2	70	70	140
T59	Samuel Njoroge Chege *	-2	72	68	140
T59	Haydn Porteous *	-2	70	70	140
T59	Lorenzo Scalise *	-2	72	68	140
T59	Lee Slattery *	-2	71	69	140
T59	Toby Tree *	-2	67	73	140
T59	Romain Wattel *	-2	69	71	140
T59	Darius van Driel *	-2	69	71	140
T78	Wil Besseling *	-1	72	69	141
T78	Jorge Campillo	-1	73	68	141
T78	Dave Coupland	-1	67	74	141
T78	Emilio Cuartero Blanco	-1	74	67	141
T78	Ooko Erick Obura *	-1	69	72	141
T78	Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño *	-1	70	71	141
T78	Daan Huizing	-1	70	71	141
T78	Jazz Janewattananond	-1	70	71	141
T78	Alexander Levy *	-1	74	67	141
T78	Jose-Filipe Lima	-1	71	70	141
T78	Carlos Pigem	-1	69	72	141
T78	Kristoffer Reitan *	-1	72	69	141
T78	Max Schmitt	-1	73	68	141
T78	Sebastian Soderberg	-1	70	71	141
T78	Daniel van Tonder *	-1	74	67	141
T93	Marcus Armitage	E	69	73	142
T93	Steven Brown *	E	69	73	142
T93	Robson Chinhoi *	E	67	75	142
T93	David Drysdale *	E	72	70	142
T93	Anthony Juma	E	70	72	142
T93	Masahiro Kawamura	E	74	68	142
T93	David Law	E	72	70	142
T93	Tae Hee Lee *	E	69	73	142
T93	Edoardo Molinari	E	73	69	142
T93	James Morrison	E	71	71	142
T93	Chris Paisley	E	75	67	142
T93	Matthieu Pavon	E	73	69	142
T93	Cormac Sharvin *	E	70	72	142
T93	David Wakhu	E	75	67	142
T107	Sihwan Kim *	1	72	71	143
T107	Taimur Malik *	1	69	74	143
T107	Richard Mansell (a)	1	72	71	143
T107	Tapio Pulkkanen *	1	72	71	143
T107	Shubhankar Sharma *	1	73	70	143
T107	Julian Suri *	1	66	77	143
T113	Maverick Antcliff	2	74	70	144
T113	Jonathan Caldwell *	2	72	72	144
T113	Rhys Enoch	2	67	77	144
T113	Oliver Farr *	2	68	76	144
T113	Ewen Ferguson *	2	71	73	144
T113	David Howell	2	68	76	144
T113	Liam Johnston	2	73	71	144
T113	Hurly Long (a)	2	73	71	144
T113	Simon Ngige Mburu *	2	72	72	144
T113	Alvaro Quiros	2	72	72	144
T113	Greg Snow	2	71	73	144
T113	Clement Sordet	2	74	70	144
T113	Joel Stalter *	2	71	73	144
T126	Alejandro Cañizares *	3	73	72	145
T126	Yi Keun Chang	3	73	72	145
T126	Tyler Koivisto *	3	77	68	145
T126	Robin Roussel	3	68	77	145
T126	Adrien Saddier *	3	71	74	145
T131	SSP Chawrasia	4	74	72	146
T131	Nicolai Højgaard	4	74	72	146
T131	Dismas Indiza Anyonyi *	4	76	70	146
T131	Anton Karlsson	4	73	73	146
T131	Joakim Lagergren	4	73	73	146
T131	Cj Wangai	4	73	73	146
T137	Mathiam Keyser *	5	72	75	147
T137	Ross McGowan *	5	77	70	147
T137	Jaydeep Singh Sandhu	5	73	74	147
T140	Lucas Bjerregaard	6	76	72	148
T140	Oliver Fisher	6	73	75	148
T140	Edwin Inana Asuza *	6	73	75	148
T140	Jastas Madoya Asena *	6	73	75	148
T140	Jacob Okello *	6	72	76	148
T145	Pedro Figueiredo *	7	75	74	149
T145	Andrew Oche Odoh	7	75	74	149
147	Phillip Kasozi *	9	72	79	151
T148	Gavin Moynihan	10	77	75	152
T148	Isaac Ogolla Makokha *	10	75	77	152
150	Victor Joseph	11	74	79	153
151	Paul Musangi Njuguna	12	76	78	154
T152	Riz Charania *	13	79	76	155
T152	Mathew Omondi	13	80	75	155
154	Adel Balala	14	81	75	156
WD	Haotong Li	5	75	5	80
WD	Zander Lombard	11	82		82
* Player started on the back nine