Ugandan professional golfer Ronald Rugumayo produced the best of his opening rounds thus far at the Magical Kenya Open; a one-over 72, as the 55th edition of the event teed off at the Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi on Thursday.

Having started on the front nine for the first time in this competition Absa-sponsored Rugumayo started fairly well with three pars in a row on holes 1,2, and 3 but a bogey on the par-5 hole-4 set him back and was the beginning of his struggles on the front-nine where he also bogeyed holes 6 and 9.

But he recovered to put up a strong showing on the back nine where he notched three birdies, two of them coming on the last two holes; the par-4 hole 17 and par-5 hole-18; his card only soiled further by another bogey on the par-4 hole 12.  

“It was a tough morning for me I missed some important putts and I paid the price and it is not because I didn’t want them to go in but it wasn’t the end of life so I kept pushing and thank God I managed to redeem myself on the last two holes,” Rugumayo said.

“I need to make a few corrections in the second round and I will be in It is me and my caddie against the course. I need to hit several fairways and convert more putts which was my undoing today,”

Rugumayo praised his South African caddie Eric Stanley May for ensuring they stayed in the game when things got tougher and also his swing coach who he says has helped him turn around his game.

“Caddies are unsung heroes but they do a lot and Eric has known me and my kind of game since I started playing with him in the Sunshine Tour in South Africa, that is the reason I had to fly him in for this tournament,” Rugumayo who is placed 74th out of 142 golfers after the first round, stated.

David Kamulindwa the other Ugandan who is making his debut at this level also struggled in the first nine where he picked four bogeys before he played the back fairly well despite picking another bogey on the par-5 hole-ten.

He finished with a five-over 76 and only a flawless second-round performance can save his campaign in this very competitive DP World Tour event which attracts some of the best golfers in the business.

“I hope to correct my mistakes because I didn’t tee off well but my short game was okay,” Kamulindwa said.

It’s a dream come true for me to play alongside these tour guys but the course is playing tough, the greens are running fast but I’m going to work on my driving and see what happens,” Kamulindwa stated.

The best Kenyans after the first round include Greg Snow and Kibugu Njoroge who all played level 71 with Jastas Madoya returning 73, while Daniel Nduva, Dismas Indiza, and Mike Kisia carded three over 73 each.

Darius Van Driel from the Netherlands, is in the lead going into the second round after he played five-under 66 on the first day of the 72-hole competition.

Another six golfers; Frenchman Frederic Lacroix, Scot Connor Syme, Dutch Daan Huizing, Tapio Pulkkanen from Finland, and South African Ryan Van Velzen, are tied for second place, having played 67 each.

This year’s prize money has been increased from last year’s sh6.8b to now a cool sh9.9b that will be shared out by the top 65 golfers and ties that will ‘make the cut’ at this DP World Tour event.