BY KNA’s Joseph Ng’ang’a
It is a two-horse race for the 2023 Kenya Junior Strokeplay Championship after the third round of play at the Muthaiga golf club.
Round one leader Krish Shah reclaimed the leaderboard in round three, dethroning overnight leader Mikael Kihara by only one stroke.
Kihara started the day with a one-shot lead over Shah, but the players were level on scores in the par 4 third hole where Kihara picked a bogey and Shah played level par.
They were level again at hole number 5 before the lead exchanged hands five times up to hole number 16.
Kihara says a double bogey at hole number seven made all the difference in his scores.
“The ball striking up to that point wasn’t the best, so I was just trying to hold it together and not let him (Shah) get away with it. I hit the rough twice and made a double (bogey), but it happens,” explained Kihara.
Shah picked three birdies, all in the second nine at number 13, 15 and 18. His only blemish was a bogey at holes 10 and 14.
“The day was good today, just a couple of mistakes in the first nine. The second nine was better, all the days I played much better in the second nine. My putter was not the best in the first nine,” said Shah.
With the third player Ewan Van Niekerk seven shots behind, Shah and Kihara are expected to battle for the top prize with Ewan playing alongside them waiting to pounce on their mistakes. Junaid Manji has dropped from third to fourth on the leader board, four shots behind Ewan in third. Elvis Muigua rounds up the top five one shot behind Manji.