Presidential Handshake For Magical Kenyan Open Winning Wu

4 years ago by Comments Off on Presidential Handshake For Magical Kenyan Open Winning Wu

… by Fatiha Betscher 

The Kenyan President was hand to extend a congratulatory handshake to China’s Ashun Wu after his impressive victory on debut at the Magical Kenyan Open.

Wu came from four shots behind at the start of the final round to win by a similar margin thanks to his closing round 65 for a 16-under-par tally in ideal scoring condition, and at close to 1,900 meters above sea level on the famed Muthaiga course in Nairobi.

The 36-year-old Wu celebrated not only a first victory on the African continent but also his fourth on the DP World Tour and the sixth of his pro career.

Wu, who also became the first Chinese player to win on the Asian Tour is not the winningest golfer in this the 50th anniversary of the DP World Tour, and to add the records, the recent new dad is the sixth different nations winner this 2022 Tour schedule.

He had become the third Chinese winner in DP World Tour history when he won the 2015 Volvo China Open and since then he has added wins in Austria and the Netherlands, with this win moving him two victories ahead of countryman Li Haotong.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta presents the Magical Kenyan Open trophy to China’s Ashun Wu. (Photo – DP World Tour)

 

Waiting to shake the hand of Wu was a gleaming Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, and one of the President’s first questions to Wu was:  “Will we see back here in Kenya next year?”  Wu’s answer was a resounding ‘Yes’.

Wu’s final round, and despite a 55th hole bogey, was a dominating display at altitude and playing a game to mirror his experience of having golfed around the globe.  After his opening hole mishap, he regrouped to birdie the fourth holes and then muscle his way to the lead on the back of four birdies in succession from the seventh hole, and from there he was never headed. He headed down the last having birdied the 17th and despite finding a greenside bunker at the par-5 18th, he got up-and-down for a birdie ‘4’ and won by four shots.

“It’s a very, very good feeling today to win a championship,” said the smiling Wu. “It was very tough today, I played very, very well today and made seven birdies.

“After two rounds I told myself if I can make five under every day on the weekend and finish 15 under, I think I’ll have a chance to win the tournament.

“Today I was four shots behind and still playing to my plan. Five under was my goal today and after ten holes I had a good feeling and I told myself I’ll keep playing and make a couple of birdies and it’s fine.

“My short game was good today also, I saved a couple of pars, my putting was good to make birdies on the 17th and 18th, I’m happy.”

Sharing second place at 12-under-par was Canadian Aaron Cockerill (67), South African Thriston Lawrence (66) and German Hurly Long (66).

Biggest disappointment was Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson who went into the last day four shots clear of the field but then found himself level with the field after back-to-back bogeys at two and three.  The 25-year-old then slumped to nine-over for his round after double-bogeys at 12 and 15th, before long overdue joy when he birdied in the last in a horror five-over–par 76.

In a nice touch, fellow Scot and Modest Golf stablemate Connor Syme was waiting to greet his crestfallen friend in throwing both arms around him as he made his way to the scorer’s hut.

“I just found it very difficult and just dealt with things wrong.  It was just really, really hard with everything going on.  I just noticed everything around me,” said Ferguson.

“It was just hard work and I fell into some bad habits.  It’s so easy to just go out there and play, but when the pressure was on, I felt out of sorts with my game, and I just fell into some bad habits.

“My swing was a battle but then it was nice to play with Marcus (Kinhult) as he helped me out, and I’ve known him for years and years”.

ASHUN WU – WITH HIS MAGICAL KENYA OPEN VICTORY

• Collects his fourth DP World Tour victory in his 158th appearance
• Wins a sixth professional victory, having won twice on the Japan Golf Tour
• His win means he has won DP World Tour events on three continents – Asia (Volvo China Open),
Europe (Lyoness Open) and Africa (Magical Kenya Open presented by Alsa)
• Wins the Magical Kenya Open on debut
• Wu became a father for the first time 13 weeks ago, and his wife and child are present at Muthaiga
Golf Club
• He also becomes the first Chinese player to win Kenya’s national open, and would also be the first Asian
winner of the event
• For his wins at the Volvo China Open and Austrian Open, he also entered the final round in second
position

• Extends his record as the most successful Chinese player in the history of the Tour, with
four wins – two clear of Li Haotong, Liang Wenchong and Zhang Lianwei have one win each
• His win is the eighth by a Chinese player on the DP World Tour
• Wu’s victory means that is now six winners from six different countries on the 2022 DP World Tour – Thriston
Lawrence (South Africa), Thomas Pieters (Belgium), Viktor Hovland (Norway), Nicolai Højgaard
(Denmark), Ryan Fox (New Zealand) and Wu Ashun (China)
• Wu will jump to sixth position in the DP World Tour Rankings on 661.47 points, up from
28th
• And is expected to become the new World No. 157 on the Official World Golf Ranking, and up from 342nd

 



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