Tournament: Magical Kenya Open presented by absa
Race to Dubai: Tournament 12 of 44 events
The International Swing: Tournament 6 of 8 events
Venue: Muthaiga Golf Club, Nairobi, Kenya
Prize Fund: $2,500,000
Hashtag: #MKO2024 #DPWT

Round Three Report

Manuel Elvira and Darius van Driel will go into the final day of the Magical Kenya Open presented by absa sharing a two-stroke lead, with the both seeking a maiden DP World Tour victory.

The pair are ten under par after 54 holes at Muthaiga Golf Club, with Spaniard Elvira carding a four under par 67 to move into a share of the lead with van Driel.

Van Driel, looking to go wire-to-wire in Kenya, carded a bogey-free three under par 68 to reach double figures after three days. The Dutchman has three top-12 finishes in six appearances at this event.

Elvira is bidding to follow in his older brother Nacho’s footsteps as a winner on the DP World Tour in his rookie season after graduating from the Challenge Tour, finishing third on last year’s Road to Mallorca Rankings.

The duo are two strokes ahead of Joe Dean of England, Scotsman Connor Syme and South Africa’s Ryan van Velzen, who currently leads the Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit. All of the top five players in Nairobi are bidding for a maiden DP World Tour victory.

History-maker Ronald Rugumayo, who yesterday became the first player from Uganda to make a cut at a DP World Tour event, carded three birdies on his final four holes to sign for a level par 71 and a share of 59th place.

Player Quotes

Manuel Elvira: “I felt like I was in position all the time. I missed a couple of drives, but I was always in the right spots and I gave myself lots of chances for birdie, I think that was pretty important.

“(On six) I thought I hit a pretty good drive, but I guess I’m always taking the bad line on that hole. Luckily I had a good lie and I had a clear shot to the green. I was a bit lucky with the bounce before the green, it almost rolled on, but I just chipped it to a foot and made par. That was pretty important, making par on that hole.

“(On 14) I was talking to my caddie about hitting driver on that hole. I have the carry, I just have to hit it up in the air. I’ve hit a perfect drive three days in a row and hit it to six or seven feet and made the par for birdie.

“It’s always nice (going against Nacho). I saw his name on the leaderboard, and I was happy because I knew he was playing well. I said to my caddie how cool it would be to play with him on a Sunday, unfortunately we won’t be able. But it will still be really nice to both be in contention.”

Darius van Driel: “It was a good round. Bogey free, not stress free. I had to work hard for it the last couple of holes. Overall, a good round.

“I didn’t get into trouble much. But I didn’t hit a lot of close ones, so I didn’t make a lot of birdies. It was one of those rounds that, for me, was pretty boring until the last few holes.

“It’s always been my dream to win on the DP World Tour. Trying to calm my emotions a little bit, not get ahead of myself. Play well and in the end I hope it’s enough.”

Joe Dean: “I’m ecstatic. Last week I was driving around in a van, so it’s a bit different and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Probably (play) the same way. The driver hasn’t been the strongest thing in the bag this week. Luckily the course isn’t the longest, so I’ve been alright hitting three irons off the tee. It’s worked so far.”

Connor Syme: “Only two behind, which is a nice spot to be in. I was positive. I had a bit of a setback on the eighth, I made double there which was disappointing. A poor drive and a little bit unfortunate with where it sat, but it was a bad drive. Hit the tree and it came behind me, so I ended up making a double there. But I was proud of how I dug in and made eagle a couple of holes later. I had one in the water as well coming in. A few penalty shots but manage to shoot under par, which was good.”

Ryan van Velzen: “It was a bit scrappy, but I kept it together. I scrambled the whole day. Hit some really good iron shots, hit some poor ones, but every time I hit a poor one I seemed to up-and-down and make par. I played nicely, would like to do a little better tomorrow and keep it more consistent.”

Scores after Round Three:  

203 M ELVIRA (ESP) 70 66 67, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 66 69 68,   
205 R VAN VELZEN (RSA) 67 71 67, J DEAN (ENG) 68 69 68, C SYME (SCO) 67 68 70,   
206 N ELVIRA (ESP) 69 69 68, D GERMISHUYS (RSA) 71 66 69, S HUTSBY (ENG) 69 67 70, E FERGUSON (SCO) 69 67 70, T PULKKANEN (FIN) 67 68 71,   
207 A WU (CHN) 73 69 65, M JORDAN (ENG) 74 65 68, L VACARISAS (ESP) 69 68 70, L DE JAGER (RSA) 70 67 70,   
208 D YOUNG (SCO) 68 72 68, T LAWRENCE (RSA) 70 70 68, M SCHWAB (AUT) 69 71 68, M SCHNEIDER (GER) 71 68 69, I CANTERO (ESP) 69 70 69, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 70 69, S JONES (NZL) 68 70 70, A CHESTERS (ENG) 69 69 70, T LEWIS (ENG) 71 66 71, J SVENSSON (SWE) 68 69 71, L SCALISE (ITA) 68 68 72,   
209 N GALLETTI (USA) 69 72 68, A FITZPATRICK (ENG) 70 71 68, S TARRIO (ESP) 69 72 68, J PARRY (ENG) 69 71 69, J KRUYSWIJK (RSA) 70 69 70, Y SCHUETZ (GER) 67 72 70, N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 70 68 71,   
210 J NICHOLAS (USA) 72 69 69, J CATLIN (USA) 69 72 69, C JARVIS (RSA) 69 72 69, H BARRON (AUS) 72 69 69, J RUTHERFORD (ENG) 72 69 69, J MOSCATEL (ESP) 69 71 70, J SURI (USA) 71 68 71, P MOOLMAN (RSA) 68 71 71, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 69 70 71, C HOWIE (SCO) 68 69 73,   
211 J GIRRBACH (SUI) 69 73 69, P KATICH (GER) 71 70 70, E PEPPERELL (ENG) 70 71 70, G GREEN (MAS) 69 71 71, A SADDIER (FRA) 69 71 71, D HUIZING (NED) 67 72 72, E MOLINARI (ITA) 71 68 72, A DEL REY (ESP) 71 68 72, J BERRY (ENG) 70 69 72, J KO (FRA) 72 67 72,   
212 S FRIEDRICHSEN (DEN) 76 66 70, G PORTEOUS (ENG) 73 68 71, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 70 71 71, T AIKEN (RSA) 71 70 71, K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 74 67 71, F LACROIX (FRA) 67 70 75,   
213 R RUGUMAYO (UGA) 72 70 71, A COCKERILL (CAN) 70 72 71, S BROWN (ENG) 72 70 71, D RAVETTO (FRA) 72 68 73, J G?TH-RASMUSSEN (DEN) 68 70 75,   
214 B FOLLETT-SMITH (ZIM) 69 73 72, F SCHOTT (GER) 73 69 72, O CHOUHAN (IND) 70 71 73, B RUSCH (SUI) 72 69 73, R NEERGAARD-PETERSEN (DEN) 69 70 75,   
215 R GOUVEIA (POR) 70 71 74, M KINHULT (SWE) 70 71 74,   
216 R HOSHINO (JPN) 70 71 75,   
**  
143 J DONALDSON (WAL) 73 70, O FARR (WAL) 71 72, D FRITTELLI (RSA) 72 71, M BESARD (BEL) 72 71, J GOUGH (ENG) 75 68, A HIDALGO (ESP) 69 74, P BOVARI (ITA) 70 73, A GARCIA-HEREDIA (ESP) 74 69, J BRUN (FRA) 73 70,   
144 R LANGASQUE (FRA) 71 73, J GUMBERG (USA) 70 74, A BLOMME (SWE) 73 71, C SORDET (FRA) 71 73, N BACHEM (GER) 72 72, D INDIZA ANYONYI (KEN) 74 70, G BOYD (ENG) 75 69, D MOSTERT (RSA) 73 71, W NIENABER (RSA) 75 69,   
145 T VAILLANT (FRA) 73 72, D LAW (SCO) 72 73, J BLIXT (SWE) 72 73, N KIBUGU (KEN) 71 74, S MANLEY (WAL) 73 72, J WANG (KOR) 78 67, F KENNEDY (ENG) 70 75, J DAVIDSON (WAL) 75 70, A LEVY (FRA) 72 73, S SHARMA (IND) 71 74, M QUIROS (ESP) 75 70,   
146 O WILSON (ENG) 75 71, L VAN MEIJEL (NED) 73 73, T POWER HORAN (AUS) 75 71, M KARANGA (AM) (KEN) 75 71, D HORSEY (ENG) 72 74, C MCKINNEY (AUS) 71 75, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 70 76, M KAWAMURA (JPN) 69 77, A WILSON (ENG) 74 72, J AXELSEN (DEN) 74 72,   
147 F CELLI (ITA) 72 75, S GARCIA (ESP) 72 75, S BAIRSTOW (ENG) 73 74, O BEKKER (RSA) 71 76, S FORSSTR?M (SWE) 71 76,   
148 M KIBUGU (KEN) 76 72, A PAVAN (ITA) 71 77, K HIGA (JPN) 76 72,   
149 J DE BRUYN (GER) 78 71, W ENEFER (ENG) 77 72, M KIEFFER (GER) 74 75, B THORNBERRY (USA) 73 76,   
150 P FIGUEIREDO (POR) 76 74, S BROHOLT LIND (DEN) 76 74, G SNOW (KEN) 71 79, J WALTERS (RSA) 75 75, V MAPWANYA (ZIM) 73 77,   
151 J HARDING (RSA) 79 72, R ENOCH (WAL) 74 77, C PURCELL (IRL) 74 77, R PARATORE (ITA) 73 78, J LEJIRMA (AM) (KEN) 78 73, J MADOYA (KEN) 73 78,   
152 D NDUVA (KEN) 74 78,   
153 L RUUSKA (FIN) 76 77,   
154 S NJOROGE (KEN) 77 77, M MEDIRATTA (KEN) 77 77,   
155 D KAMULINDWA (UGA) 76 79, M WARREN (SCO) 77 78,   
159 I MAKOKHA (AM) (KEN) 81 78,   
160 M KISIA (KEN) 74 86,   
162 J RONO (AM) (KEN) 80 82,   
**  
OUT K JOHANNESSEN (NOR) RT , H LONG (GER) RT.