Swede Seb has his sights set on a Kenyan double to match Bembridge feat
Sebastian Soderberg is in pole position to claim a historic double at the Barclays Kenya Open after carding a third-round 66 to take a two-shot lead into today’s final day at Muthaiga Golf Club, Nairobi.
The Swede, who triumphed at neighbouring Karen Country Club in 2016, is seeking to become just the second person in the tournament’s 50-year history to win at both Nairobi courses, with England’s Maurice Bembridge currently the only player to achieve the feat way back in 1968 and 1969.
Following a sublime second round of 65, the 27-year-old played patiently over the front nine yesterday, bagging birdies at the 504-yard par five fourth – where he is a combined four under par after three attempts this week – along with the parfour ninth to move one clear of the rest of the field.
After an eagle at the 10th, and further gains at the 12th and 13th, Soderberg pulled away from his nearest challengers. And despite dropping a shot at the 16th, he goes into the final round two clear of
Germans Max Schmitt and Philipp Mejow.
With Soderberg’s sole European Challenge Tour victory coming in Kenya, he admits the country has a special place in his heart – and is somewhere where he seems to play his best golf.
“Kenya has always treated me well,” he said. “I don’t really know what it is about here, but I always get some good feelings each time I come back.
“Although it is a different course to where I won, I always seem to get the numbers right with the distances eventually. The ball can go really far here so you need to be careful with your calculations!
“I am very pleased with how today went. It was a really solid round overall and I had a very good stretch in the middle which came from an eagle just after the turn.
“It wasn’t the best finish, but overall I am very pleased with the last few days.
“It is a really big event and I’ll try to not let that affect me tomorrow.”
Overnight leader Schmitt and fellow-country man Mejow are closest to Soderberg at 10-under-par overall, while two shots further behind them are Sweden’s Simon Forsstrom, Italy’s Lorenzo Gagli, Chile’s Nico Geyger and England’s Max Orrin.
The rounds of the day came from South Africa’s Oliver Bekker and Sweden’s Oscar Lengden, who both carded eight-under-par scores of 63, to climb into the top 10 ahead of today’s final day in East Africa.