South African golfer Casey Jarvis won the Kenya Open by three strokes on Sunday to claim his first DP World Tour victory.
Jarvis, ranked 195th in the world, made an eagle putt on the 72nd hole and recorded 8 under par 62 in the final round, and 25 under par in the tournament held at Karen Country Club in Nairobi.
Jarvis also had an eagle on the short, par-4 12th hole on Sunday, rolling a right-to-left putt over a ridge for a 30 for the back nine.
Jarvis shared the lead in each of the first three rounds, each time sharing the lead with another player before finally pulling away.
Second place went solely to Davis Bryant (64) of the United States, and third place went to South Africa’s Hennie du Plessis (65).
“It’s really amazing. In fact, I’ve never won in front of my dad before. I wanted to win in front of my dad so bad, and to finally get to do it when he comes, I can’t explain the feeling,” Jarvis said.
“It feels great because I was so nervous coming down the last two games. There aren’t many words to describe that feeling. I wish my mom was here, but she’s back home in England.”
“I can’t believe it. He’s been with me through the good times and the bad. I know this moment doesn’t happen often, so tonight we’ll celebrate it properly.”
Jarvis started the day tied for the lead and went into the corner with three birdies and a bogey to finish one stroke ahead of Du Plessis.
His eagle putt on the 12th hole put him ahead before the first of two weather delays derailed his day.
Upon the restart, Jarvis made his second bogey of the round on the 15th, and another weather delay halted Bryant’s chase as he moved to within one of his rivals.
Jarvis recovered with a birdie at 17 when play restarted and held his nerve to seal the deal with another eye-catching eagle at 18.
“It was hard not to think about the bigger picture. All the emotions were going crazy in my mind. There was so much going on in my mind that I had no idea. It was crazy,” Jarvis said.
“But I tried to stay in the moment and take one golf shot at a time, and I think it worked pretty well.”
England’s Nathan Kimsey was tied for 5th at 19 under par, and Matthew Jordan was tied for 7th at 18 under par.
