England’s Oliver Fisher showed his class with a flawless round of 66 to surge into contention on day two of the Kenya Open.
The youngster from Essex, who is making his Challenge Tour debut in Nairobi, notched five unanswered birdies at Muthaiga Golf Club to climb to the head of affairs on five under par, albeit with more than half of the field yet to finish their rounds.
In stark contrast, overnight leader Jake Roos of South Africa slumped to a four over par round of 75 to tumble out of the top ten along with Sweden’s Andreas Högberg, who had trailed him by one shot after the opening round.
Högberg followed a double bogey at the ninth hole with a triple bogey at the tenth in his round of 75, whilst Roos’ round fell apart with four dropped shots on the back nine.
But it was all plain sailing for Fisher, who is attempting to rebuild his career on the Challenge Tour this year after a season of struggle on The European Tour last term.
The 21 year old, who wrote himself into golf’s history books in 2005 when he became the youngest ever player to play in the Walker Cup, got his round going with a birdie on the fourth hole following a good chip.
His second birdie of the day came courtesy of a 10-foot putt at the ninth hole, and he added another three after the turn to complete a satisfying morning’s work.
Fisher said: “To be honest I probably didn’t play much better today than I did yesterday. My long game was probably a bit better, but the main difference was that the putts started to drop. It probably helped that I played in the morning, because the greens were rolling a bit better and the wind was also blowing a little less. I still struggled with the distance at times because the ball flies much further at such high altitude, but I’m starting to get used to it now.
“It’s my first Challenge Tour event, and so far I’m enjoying it. I already know a few of the guys out here from playing amateur golf with them, so it’s always nice to see a familiar face. I don’t know how the season will pan out – hopefully I’ll win a couple of times and get back onto the main Tour, but it might take a little longer than that. All I can do is play to the best of my ability, shoot as low as possible and hope it gets me the right results. The belief’s starting to come back now, and if I can keep shooting low scores, obviously the confidence will keep building.”
The only other flawless round of the morning session was compiled by Finland’s Antti Ahokas, whose 68 moved him to four under par.
He was joined on that mark by South African Michiel Bothma, who opened with a double bogey and dropped further shots at the fifth and sixth holes before rallying with five birdies.
His compatriot Louis Moolman is also on four under par along with Norway’s Jan-Are Larsen, who signed for a round of 70.
