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Garcia Pinto edges ahead in Kenya
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Garcia Pinto edges ahead in Kenya

The ninth hole provided some real drama for the final group at the Barclays Kenya Open as Jordi Garcia Pinto edged into the lead on 11 under par, one shot clear of his playing partner Tim Sluiter.

Jordi Garcia Pinto (Chris Omollo)

With the two players tied for the lead on 11 under, the Spaniard’s wayward tee shot at the ninth appeared to hand the advantage to Sluiter, who had found the fairway with his tee shot.

The Dutchman, however, attacked the pin and his approach dropped in the greenside bunker with the tricky pin position hugging the nearside of the green.

Garcia Pinto chipped out of the heavy rough to the fairway and produced a masterful piece of skill to roll his chip one foot from the hole, just shy of an incredible birdie, before tapping in for par.

Sluiter, faced with an extremely difficult third shot, could not get out of the bunker with his first attempt and while his second from the sand fell seven feet short, he rolled in the bogey putt to leave the gap at just one shot entering the back nine.

While José-Filipe Lima equalled the course record 65 set by Sluiter earlier in the week to move to eight under par, Brooks Koepka looked the most likely to challenge the top two as he reached the turn in one under for the day and eight under for the tournament, three shots back.

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