Nairobi, Kenya, Mar 5 – Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson moved top of the leader board going into the final round of this year’s Magical Kenya Open presented by ABSA at the par 71 Muthaiga Golf Club.
Ferguson recorded an impressive five under par 66, a round that ended with a colorful flay-past by Kenya Airways Dreamliner that was enroute to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from South Africa.
The national carrier Kenya Airways is among the sponsors at this year’s Magical Kenya Open which is part of the DP World Tour series.
Ferguson stated that the day went well after playing a first hole birdie and a quick eagle at the fourth, in addition with three birdies at the back nine’s 10th, 14th and 18th with the only bogey of the day coming at the sixth hole.
The performance did not however seem to discouraged him to go top on 14 under par 199, four shots better than another Swedish player Marcus Kinhult and China’s Ashiun Wu.
“I was playing well coming into the day, made a nice birdie on one which I settled me down a little bit.”
He added, “I think that was the key today, momentum just kept going, I was holing clutch three or four putts to keep me going and I just played nicely and plodded my way around.”
On the other hand, Kinhult, a fairly new name in the open, picked up seven birdies and an eagle finish at the 18th hole in a round that also saw him drop two shots one in each nine for his seven under par 64.
This left him with a three rounds total of 10 under par 203, to tie for the second place with Ashun Wu who birdied six holes and dropped one shot for the day’s five under par 66.
“I hit some good shots, gave myself a couple of ten-footers and managed to hole them. I’ve been aggressive on the par fives, especially at 18 there, hitting driver and threading the gap between the bunkers and if you do that, the ball runs forever.”
Meanwhile, Ashun Wu said he was happy finishing five under for the day, saying he found some feelings on how to play on the par 71 course.
“I was happy to finish five under with one bogey. I found some feelings on how to play this golf course, finally my game is pretty good to and my putting was good so I’m happy with my play today.
The two were separated by only a shot from a group of five players led by Germany’s Matti Schmid who shot a 64 in the third round for a total of 64, tying with David Horsey of England, Sebastian Garcia from Spain, Thomas Detry of Belgium and Spain’s Jorge Campillo, one of the tournament favourites who fired six under 65 to also wind up the day on 204.
It was not a good outing for day two leader Shubhankar Sharma of India and his play-mate Masahiro Kawamura from Japan who had started the day on 10 under and nine under par respectively.
Sharma however played four over par 75 in the third round, to drop to tying 17th with seven other players while Kawamura posted one over par 72 to close the day on eight under par 205.
Teeing off for the last round starts at 7am with the two leaders Ferguson and Kinhult expected to tee off from 12.40pm.
The leader board
Ewen Ferguson (Sco) 66, 67, 66= 199
Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 71, 68, 64= 203
Ashun Wu (Ch) 69, 68, 66= 203
Matti Schmid (Ger) 69, 71, 64= 204
David Horsey (Eng) 69, 70, 65= 204
Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Sp) 70, 68, 66= 204
Thomas Detry (Bel) 70, 68. 66= 204
Jorge Campillo (Sp) 70, 69, 65= 204.
