A few weeks ago, Kenyan top amateurs played Vipingo Ridge Golf Resort. The winning scores were high and there was a lot of cries about the course setup. As the pros prepared to play the 2022-23 Safari Tour at Vipingo Ridge, many people we keen to see how they would fare on this course. This article covers the 2022-23 Safari Tour Vipingo Ridge by the numbers. 

Overview

Vipingo Ridge is advertised as being the only PGA standard course in Kenya. It showed its teeth as the pros descended on it. The course did not give away any under par score on day 1. The cut line was at +13 after day 2. Some holes had more bogeys than pars. But the most interesting stat was that par 4s played harder than par 3s which were long and treacherous. Par 5 by far were the easiest holes on the course. 

The Winning Score

Daniel Nduva beat veteran Greg Snow in a playoff to win his maiden professional tournament win at plus 2. Greg Snow had an impressive run at the top of the leaderboard from day 1 to day 4. However, Nduva managed to get himself into the playoff position despite a 1 shot penalty after round 3. Nduva capitalized on this to win in the 3 hole playoff. 

Day 1 Analysis 

Day one had an average score of 79 for the field. Hole number 13 was the hardest hole for the day averaging a score of 4.79. It was followed by hole number 16 and 7 averaging a score of 4.69 and 4.65 respectively. Par 5s played relatively easy with holes 15, 2, and 11 being the easiest holes in the respective order. Holes number 10, 13, and 18 conceded no birdies all day to the field of 51 players. As a matter of fact holes 5, 7, 10 and 13 had more bogeys than pars. 

Day 2 Analysis

Day 2 saw an average improved in the average score with 77.51. This might be a factor of 7 players missing the day one cut. Only two players (Nduva and Nyasha) managed to play under par. Hole number 18 proved to be the hardest on day two averaging a score of 4.7. It was followed by hole number 16 with 4.59 and holes number 1 and 8 with an average score of 4.58 and 3.58 respectively. Once again, par 5s were the easiest holes with par 5s 15, 2, 11, and 6 indexing at 18, 17, 16, and 15 respectively. Holes 5, 7, and 8 conceded no birdies for the day while holes 1, 3, 16 and 18 had more bogeys or worse than they had pars. 

Day 3 Analysis 

With only 25 players on the field the average score was still high at 77.12 on day 3. Only one player (Rugumayo)  manage to play under par. Par 3 hole 17 was the hardest hole for the day with an average score of 3.76. It was followed by holes 7 and 16 with average scores of 472 and 4.64 respectively. Par 5s 2 and 15 shared the spoils as the easiest holes followed closely by par 5s 11 and 6 in that order. Holes 1, 5, 7 and 8 conceded no birdies for the day. Finally, holes 7, 8, 14, 16, 17, and 18 conceded more bogeys or worse than pars. 

Day 4 Analysis 

The final day yielded the lowest average score for the week with 76.2. Four players played under par. Hole number 16 was the hardest hole for the day with an average score of 4.64. It was followed by holes 7 and 5 with average scores of 4.60 and 4.52 respectively. As usually par 5s comprised of the 4 easiest holes for the day. Hole number 5 was the only hole with more bogeys of worse than pars for the final day while holes 3,4, and 7 conceded no birdies. 

Coclusion

While par 5s played the easiest all week, they conceded very few eagles (5). The leaders, Nduva and Snow play 16 and 14 birdies for the week respectively but still finished over par. This was a testament to the toughness of the course. The wind and low altitude definitely played a big factor as many players struggles to judge the effect of the two effectively. The long hitters who played well kept their drivers in the bag for most of the holes and opted to play long irons off the tee to manage the course. 

Vipingo Ridge definitely won the week and is a worthy course for any major tournament. It is worthy to note that we the world elite women played the LET tournament in February 2022, the cut was at +11 with the winning score at 2 under par only. Kenyan pros are daring to conquer the Safari Tour at Vipingo Ridge in 2023! 

You can find the full analysis spreadsheet here!