Conor Purcell and Dermot McElroy face uphill battles to make the cut at Magical Kenya Open presented by absa.
Purcell is three-over after a round of 74 with McElroy two shots further back despite a strong finish to his round.
Purcell began on the back nine and after eight straight pars he found a birdie on the par-5 18th but that’s as good as it got for the Portmarnock man who bogeyed the 2nd and 7th holes before a costly double bogey on the par-4 8th.
For McElroy it was a game of two halves after he turned in 43 following a quadruple bogey nine on the par-5 4th and three straight bogeys from the 6th.
He bounced back with a back nine of 33 that included three birdies and a bogey but the damage looks to have been done on the front nine.
John Parry continued his love affair with Africa as he fired a flawless 63 to share the lead with Benjamin Hebert.
Englishman Parry made a blistering start to the 2025 season, finishing in a tie for second at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa in December before winning the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open a week later to top the Opening Swing standings and head into Christmas on a massive high.
And he rediscovered his very best form on his return to Africa, carding eight birdies and no bogeys at Muthaiga Golf Club on Thursday morning to set the clubhouse target at eight under par.
He was joined at the summit late in the afternoon by Frenchman Hebert after the 38-year-old made an eagle and six birdies in his spotless 63.
South Africa’s Jayden Schaper also kept the bogeys off the card in his opening 64 to sit alone in third.
Englishman Eddie Pepperell made a spectacular hole-in-one at the tricky par-three 11th, holing his tee-shot from 218 yards with a seven iron.
Starting from the tenth tee, Parry flew out of the blocks with back-to-back birdies before picking up further shots at the 13th, 15th and 18th to turn in 30 blows.
A sensational approach at the third set up a tap-in birdie there and he rolled in from around ten feet on the fourth to make it two in a row.
His four-foot birdie at the seventh saw Parry take advantage of all four of the course’s par fives on day one.
And the 38-year-old had a good chance to move further clear at the summit at the ninth – his closing hole – but his effort from the edge of the green slid just by.
Parry said: “I hit it well. I kept it in play pretty well.
“Even though I’ve had a bad few weeks in the Middle East, I haven’t panicked.
“Just keep doing the same things that worked last year and hopefully they’ll keep working for the rest of the year. I think if I keep doing that the results will come.”
Hebert started the day with an eagle on the par-five tenth before closing his front nine with back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th.
After making another pair of birdies on the second and third, he took dead aim at the sixth to set up a tap-in birdie and close to within one shot of the lead.
A closing birdie on the ninth then saw him pull alongside Parry at the top.
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