Njoroge Kibugu was the toast of the home crowds, Celestin Nsazuwera flew the flag for Rwanda on the DP World Tour and Angel Ayora underlined his status as a rising star at the 2026 Magical Kenya Open presented by absa.
Here is everything you need to know from day two at Karen Country Club.
Home interest continues into the weekend
At the start of the week, 17 Kenyans took their place in the 144-player field at their national championship. At the close of play on Friday, one remained and the hero of the hour was Njoroge Kibugu. Making his fifth appearance at the event, the crowds were out in force on Friday again as expectation fell on him to preserve home participation over the weekend. Needing to birdie the par-five 18th to make the cut, he struck a stunning approach to four feet and holed the eagle putt to the delight of the many fans watching on around the green. He said: “As I saw the crowds get bigger, my energy started pumping because I was like, 'Okay, this is bigger than me, there's a lot of people who are riding on me'. So going into the last, I knew it was more than me, so it was nice having the crowds there.”
Lacroix joins Jarvis at the top
It was another low-scoring day in Nairobi, with Frederic Lacroix firing a flawless 62 to join overnight co-pacesetter Casey Jarvis at the top of the leaderboard on 13 under. Jarvis has made 17 birdies across his two rounds, with the South African targeting a breakthrough DP World Tour win. Among their nearest chasers two shots adrift is countryman Hennie Du Plessis, who carded a 61 for the low round of the week so far.
A piece of DP World Tour history
Celestin Nsazuwera made history by becoming the first player from Rwanda to compete on the DP World Tour. A regular on the South Africa-based Big Easy Tour, the 26-year-old qualified through his performances on the Sunshine Tour's development circuit last year. Flying the flag for the East African country, he carded a second consecutive one-under-par 69 to fall two shots shy of the cut mark but he can always look back on the week and call himself a history-maker. With his debut appearance, Rwanda becomes the 117th country to feature on the DP World Tour since its inception in 1972. Well done, Celestin!
Ayora hunts big bird
"You can sort of understand why he hasn't taken driver a lot round here, his one bad statistic this season is driving accuracy..." Angel Ayora must not have been paying attention to the stats as he skirted past the bunkers and threatened a hole in one at the par-four tenth.
Spanish hands
In an up-and-down second round for Jorge Campillo, the Spaniard showed his class with an exquisitely judged chip-in eagle at the 12th. How important it was too, with the 2023 Magical Kenya Open winner - who earlier made a quadruple bogey at the third - going on to make the cut on the number with a birdie at the 18th.
