Jacob Okello will be among a host of stars that will feature in Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship to be held at the Karen Country Club. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship will be staged next week.
This year, it will be played as a full member of the main European Tour, becoming only the fourth country on the African country to host a main Tour event.
Next week, Kenya’s top professional and amateur golfers will tee it up at the 51st staging of the Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship. The championship, now part of the main European Tour, will be held from March 14-17, 2019 at the Karen Country Club.
The Magical Kenya was first played in 1967 and in 1991, it joined the European Challenge Tour and by 2018 the event was the most lucrative on the Challenge Tour, offering 500,000 euros as total prize money.
In 2019, the Kenya Open will be played as a full member of the main European Tour, becoming only the fourth country on the African country to host a main Tour event. South Africa plays host to the Nedbank Golf Challenge in November, a $7.5m (Sh765m) event followed by the South Africa Open and Alfred Dunhill Championship in December. Mauritius hosts the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open in Mauritius and Morocco hosts the Trophee Hassan II in Rabat – a Euros2.5m (Sh282m) event.
So, which golf stars can you expect to watch at Karen next week?
Top on the list are our homegrown stars! Greg Snow and Dismas Indiza will lead the charge for Team Kenya. These two players have dominated the Safari Tour, Kenya’s local Professional Golf Tour, since it was launched in August 2018. Snow is in top form going into the Kenya Open and he should have no problem competing against the European Tour boys. Indiza brings many years of experience to the Kenya Open and he has what it takes to finish at the very top of this championships.
Windsor’s Riz Charania did not win through the first season of the Safari Tour, but he displayed a willingness to challenge and win – he will be one of the stars to watch.
Jacob Okello, the most successful Kenyan in the history of the championship, will also be in the hunt looking to turn back the clock. Will this be Okello’s last shot at glory? Will he find the form he showed in 1998 when he finished second? Or the form he carried from 2006 to 2007 when he finished T5 and T4 respectively?
Thomas Bjorn
Among visiting international stars, Thomas Bjorn is the biggest name in the event. The immediate past Europe Ryder Cup captain has won 15 times on Tour; he will be worth watching. India’s 22-year-old Shubhankar Sharma will be in town and he will be looking for his win on the European Tour. Sharma has been victorious twice on the Challenge Tour and twice on the Asian Tour. South Africa’s Haydn Porteous is a two time European Tour Champion and he won the 2015 Kenya Open Golf Championship at the Karen Country Club. German Marcel Siem, a four-time European Tour Champion will also be in the field.
The Korean golf sensation, Ho-Sung Choi will make his European Tour debut in Kenya as a sponsor’s invite. Choi plays on the Japanese and Korean Tours but is better known for his unorthodox golf swing.
The winner of the 2018 Kenya Open, Lorenzo Gangli, will be playing next week; and whilst his victory was at the Muthaiga Golf Club, Gangli will proudly wear the title of defending champion.
Tickets for the Kenya Open are available on www.kenyaopen.golf for Sh3,000 for a season ticket and Sh1,000 for a daily ticket.
See you at Karen.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
