Harding fires 66 to cruise to two-shot win in Magical Kenya Open
South Africa’s Justin Harding with the trophy following his two-shot win in the Magical Kenya Open presented by Johnnie Walker. Picture: Getty Images
Justin Harding closed with a bogey-free, five-under 66 to claim his second European Tour title at the Magical Kenya Open presented by Johnnie Walker.
The South African (35) entered the final day with a two-shot advantage over the field and was composure personified throughout as he claimed a two-stroke victory at Karen Country Club.
After opening with five straight par, he made back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh, then drove the green at the par-four, 332-yard ninth and holed from 15 feet for eagle to lead by four shots at the turn.
He steadily maintained his lead all the way home and picked up one final birdie on the par-four 17th to secure his second European Tour title on 21 under total - the lowest winning total in the history of Kenya's national open.
American Kurt Kitayama, who forced Harding to settle for fourth when he claimed his second European Tour win in the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open in 2018, also shot 66 to finish second, two shots behind.
"I’m very emotional now,” said Harding, whose other win came in the 2019 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. “It was hard work, I’m happy with the way I played. Kurt’s a hell of a competitor – I got him back for Mauritius – but I’m glad I went one shot better than a couple of years ago, I was bummed about that, but I was just happy with the way I managed my game.
"I wouldn’t say I was in a slump but I was in a dip in form in terms of mixed results and it was nice to get over the line this time around. Winning isn’t everything but I think being in the winner’s circle again means a little more to me than I thought it did.
"I think I got blown off the golf course like everyone else in Qatar. It was nice to come back to a place that I have nice fond memories of. I know Guido beat me by a shot here a couple of years ago and I felt like I played the golf course well and it is set up nicely for me.
“I’ve been saying to the guys all week that I think it is one of the fairest golf courses in terms of to the field that the European Tour plays all year. It’s just a fun golf course; you can make a bunch of birdies, you can make a bunch of eagles and you can throw in some bogeys there as well. It’s just lovely to play."
Kitayama eagled the sixth and 12th in his 66 but was left with too much to do coming down the stretch.
"It was tough to catch him,” the American said. |Obviously, I couldn’t but I think I gave it a pretty good effort. I felt like sometimes when I was going to slip away, I chipped in for eagle on 12, that was big, but overall I’m happy with how I fought I’m happy with the result.
"You just have to stick to your game plan. I was hitting my irons well and I just trusted that and down the stretch, I just didn’t give myself too many good looks."
Scotland's Connor Syme, meanwhile, was pleased to finish third on 17 under par after a 64.
"I came here a couple of years ago as well and really, really enjoyed the golf course and it was one I was looking forward to coming back to play,” Syme said. “I played lovely, to be honest, I played really, really well and it was nice to finish off a good week with a strong finish.
"We’ve got one day off and then back on it but it’s been fun to play the golf course and I’m looking forward to getting back on it."
Spaniard Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez posted a closing eight-under-par round of 63 to secure solo fourth place on 16 under par, while French duo Romain Langasque and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet and South Africa's Jacques Kruyswijk finished a shot further back in a share of fifth place.
The European Tour remains at Karen Country Club for the Kenya Savannah Classic presented by Absa which begins on Tuesday with Cormac Sharvin, Jonny Caldwell and Gavin Moynihan in action again.
Magical Kenya Open presented by Johnnie Walker, Karen Country Club, Nairobi (Par 71)
263 J Harding (RSA) 66 67 64 66, €145,500
265 K Kitayama (USA) 67 66 66 66, €94,500
267 C Syme (Sco) 65 67 71 64, €54,550
268 S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 67 70 68 63, €43,500
269 J Kruyswijk (RSA) 68 72 65 64, R Langasque (Fra) 67 70 67 65, J Gonnet (Fra) 68 68 66 67, €31,430 each
270 S Horsfield (Eng) 65 71 69 65, P Angles (Esp) 70 67 67 66, D Burmester (RSA) 68 64 71 67, C Hill (Sco) 65 68 67 70, €19,232 each
271 J Walters (RSA) 67 71 68 65, N Bertasio (Ita) 67 69 69 66, K Samooja (Fin) 65 66 72 68, G Migliozzi (Ita) 71 65 67 68,
272 G Coetzee (RSA) 72 66 69 65, G Bhullar (Ind) 66 72 69 65, V Dubuisson (Fra) 68 68 70 66, G Porteous (Eng) 71 68 67 66, J Donaldson (Wal) 69 67 69 67, G Higgo (RSA) 67 68 68 69, S Hend (Aus) 67 64 68 73, J Veerman (USA) 68 69 62 73,
273 A Rai (Eng) 70 67 70 66, D Fichardt (RSA) 69 70 67 67, A Otaegui (Esp) 70 67 68 68, J Schaper (RSA) 68 70 65 70,
274 J Senior (Eng) 68 68 71 67, W Nienaber (RSA) 67 69 71 67, M Schneider (Ger) 70 69 69 66, R McEvoy (Eng) 70 70 65 69, J Catlin (USA) 71 69 69 65,
275 L De Jager (RSA) 70 70 66 69, G Forrest (Sco) 73 66 68 68, N Lemke (Swe) 67 71 68 69, O Wilson (Eng) 70 67 72 66, M Kieffer (Ger) 68 72 69 66, R Santos (Por) 71 66 68 70, O Lieser (Cze) 72 68 71 64, B Ritthammer (Ger) 65 71 67 72,
276 J Luiten (Ned) 70 69 67 70, J Hansen (Den) 68 69 69 70, B Poke (Den) 69 70 69 68, G Green (Mas) 68 69 68 71, B Evans (Eng) 71 68 71 66, D Whitnell (Eng) 66 70 68 72,
277 J Smith (Eng) 68 70 69 70, S Kjeldsen (Den) 67 69 71 70, R Ramsay (Sco) 67 65 77 68, F Laporta (Ita) 70 67 68 72, A Meronk (Pol) 65 73 67 72,
278 R Jacquelin (Fra) 65 68 73 72, A Chesters (Eng) 71 68 67 72, J Fahrbring (Swe) 72 67 69 70, M Schwab (Aut) 71 66 72 69, A Cockerill (Can) 71 69 69 69, M Ford (Eng) 68 72 70 68, R Bland (Eng) 71 69 71 67, D Van Driel (Ned) 69 71 71 67, L Gagli (Ita) 70 70 71 67, D Perrier (Fra) 68 71 74 65,
279 L Scalise (Ita) 72 68 68 71, S Vincent (Zim) 68 71 71 69, J Guerrier (Fra) 70 70 70 69,
280 L Van Meijel (Ned) 68 69 69 74, R Karlberg (Swe) 71 68 70 71, T Tree (Eng) 67 73 69 71, R Sciot-siegrist (Fra) 73 66 72 69, R Wattel (Fra) 69 71 72 68,
281 M Southgate (Eng) 66 69 75 71, G Havret (Fra) 67 73 71 70, B Hebert (Fra) 64 72 75 70,
282 J Ritchie (RSA) 69 70 69 74, K Moon (Kor) 70 69 71 72, H Porteous (RSA) 70 70 75 67,
283 L Slattery (Eng) 71 69 75 68,
284 S Chege (Ken) 72 68 74 70
