GEORGE MURRAY FINISHES THIRD IN KENYA OPEN

EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT

From Neil AHERN

George Murray carded a two under par final round of 69 at the Barclays Kenya Open to finish in outright third place on nine under, three shots back from eventual winner Jordi Garcia Pinto of Spain.

The 29 year old was disappointed not have put more pressure on the leaders at the weekend but was nevertheless happy with a top five finish so early in the European Challenge Tour season, which moved him to fifth in the Rankings on €17,250.

“I am happy with finishing in third place,” said the Anstruther man. “Obviously I’m disappointed to have been only two under par for the whole weekend - and that was with two birdies on the final two holes today.

“I feel as though I could have put a bit of pressure on them earlier on but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. If someone offers you third at the start of every week you’d be happy and it’s a couple of decent results so hopefully I can push on now and have a good year.

“It was a shaky round today but it was nice to finish with three birdies in the final four holes. I just have to go back now and do a bit of work with my coach and get ready for the rest of the season.”

Raymond Russell was the next best Scot in tied seventh place on six under par after a final round 70 while Andrew McArthur finished a shot further back in tied 11^th place to continue his positive start to the season after a runner-up finish at the season-opening Gujarat Kensville Challenge.

Garcia Pinto, meanwhile, claimed his maiden European Challenge Tour title after an intensely dramatic finale, finishing one shot clear of Tim Sluiter.

It was a thrilling final round from start to finish at the sun-drenched Karen Country Club in Nairobi, and despite standing on the 16^th tee with a four shot lead, Garcia Pinto still had to endure a tense finish as Sluiter was afforded an eagle putt at the last to take it to a play-off.

That came after the Spaniard followed up an eagle at the 15^th with back-to-back bogeys to narrow his lead back to two.

After his second shot flew the green at the par five 18^th, Garcia Pinto was left with an extremely tough chip while his Dutch counter-part fired a stunning approach to leave a ten foot putt for eagle.

Garcia Pinto caught his chip heavy and left it short of the green, before his second attempt landed just short of the hole to leave an easy par putt but, more importantly, leave Sluiter with a chance to take it to extra holes.

The man from The Netherlands, however, slid his putt to the left of the hole and could only manage a birdie, leaving his playing partner with a tap-in in for a par, a two under par round of 69 and a first Challenge Tour victory.

FINAL TOTALS

Par 284 (4x71)

 

272 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 69 66 68 69

273 T Sluiter  (Ned) 69 65 69 70

275 G Murray  (Sco) 68 67 71 69

276 J Lima  (Por) 70 68 73 65

277 E Dubois (Fra) 71 69 69 68, B Koepka  (USA) 70 68 68 71

278 C Brazillier  (Fra) 69 71 69 69, R Russell (Sco) 67 69 72 70, B Ritthammer (Ger) 73 71 66 68, D Frittelli (RSA) 71 70 68 69

279 S Tiley (Eng) 74 68 70 67, A McArthur  (Sco) 68 73 67 71,

280 B An (Kor) 69 72 73 66

281 S Hutsby  (Eng) 68 70 70 73, J Dantorp (Swe) 74 69 67 71, M Sell  (Eng) 73 71 70 67, P Archer (Eng) 69 69 76 67, A Otaegui  (Esp) 67 72 68 74, S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 72 71 67 71

282 M Ford (Eng) 68 73 75 66, P Oriol (Esp) 70 70 70 72

283 H Bacher (Aut) 66 76 71 70, P Uihlein  (USA) 69 71 74 69, C Suneson (Esp) 74 70 70 69, L Bjerregaard  (Den) 70 72 68 73, A Pavan (Ita) 70 67 75 71, J Barnes (Eng) 71 69 76 67, W Booth  (Sco) 75 67 71 70, T Fournier  (Fra) 72 68 71 72, D Kemmer (USA) 70 72 71 70, J Moul  (Eng) 71 73 71 68, T Hatton (Eng) 69 69 73 72, D Law (Sco) 68 69 71 75

284 G Snow  (Ken) 68 71 72 73, N Floren (Swe) 73 69 69 73, G Stal  (Fra) 70 71 72 71, J Legarrea (Esp) 72 69 71 72, A Velasco (Esp) 72 70 71 71

285 J Fahrbring (Swe) 70 74 70 71, K Timbe  (Ken) 72 71 71 71, D Vancsik (Arg) 73 69 69 74, D Griffiths  (Eng) 75 69 70 71, F Laporta (Ita) 77 66 68 74, W Besseling  (Ned) 69 70 71 75, J Senior (Eng) 72 66 72 75

286 D Denison  (Eng) 71 69 73 73, T Murray (Eng) 67 76 72 71, D Odhiambo  (Ken) 71 69 71 75, J Ruth  (Eng) 71 71 75 69

287 M Crespi  (Ita) 71 68 72 76

288 M Muthiya  (Zam) 72 72 71 73, C Aguilar  (Esp) 71 72 70 75, N Ngugi (Ken) 70 74 73 71

289 J Huldahl (Den) 71 73 73 72

290 R Enoch  (Wal) 75 69 73 73, C Hanson (Eng) 75 67 73 75

291 B Hebert  (Fra) 70 72 74 75

292 V Riu  (Fra) 71 72 74 75, B Njoroge  (Ken) 73 71 74 74

293 P Dwyer (Eng) 74 70 73 76, F Colombo (Ita) 73 69 75 76

295 D Im (USA) 71 69 78 77