Thriston Lawrence charged hard, and his closing five-under-par 66 on Sunday in the final round of the DP World Tour’s Magical Kenya Open left him four shots behind the winner in a share of second at Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi.
Lawrence, who won the rain-shortened Joburg Open late last year, made an eagle and three birdies on the front nine to climb rapidly into contention as he turned in five-under 31. When he birdied the 10th, he had a real chance to set a demanding clubhouse target, especially with another par-five ahead of him on the final hole. But he dropped a shot on the par-four 14th, and that robbed him of any further momentum.
In the end, he shared second with Aaron Cockerill of Canada and Hurly Long of Germany. They were joint runners-up to China’s Ashun Wu who closed with a six-under 65, despite getting going early on with a bogey on his second hole of the day. He ended up totalling 14-under for the week to Lawrence’s 12-under.
Oliver Bekker produced the round of the day with a superb eight-under-par 63, including six birdies on his front nine. He made three on his homeward journey, and, but for a dropped shot on the fifth, he might have finished higher than his share of eighth on nine-under.
Dean Burmester, like Lawrence, closed with a five-under 66 for a share of 26th with Richard Sterne, who had a closing one-over 72. Jayden Schaper was one stroke further back in 34th after his final level-par 71, while Hennie du Plessis and Justin Harding also each had 71s for three-under for the tournament in 42nd. Daniel van Tonder was on one-under for the week after his 71 left him in a share of 51st, and Jacques Kruyswijk battled to a three-over 74 for 60th on level-par.
