Ahead of the latest instalment of the Barclays Kenya Open at Karen Country Club, europeantour.com took a look at the key figures that have made the annual African odyssey one of the European Challenge Tour’s great success stories, having first joined the circuit back in 1991.
Last season saw South Africa’sJake Roostriumph on a tensely fought final day in Nairobi, holding off the title advances of European trio Adrien Bernadet of France, Denmark’s Lasse Jensen – who finished runner-up for the second year running – and Pedro Oriol from Spain, to claim the first of two victories last season.
Histen under par totalwas typical of this year’s venue, which has tended to be a tougher test than fellow host Muthaiga Golf Club, one of a number of comparisons that can be drawn between the two layouts when looking back over the scoring in theprevious 15 editions.
Scores on the doors
Since 1999 the Kenya Open has been played on all but one occasion – in 2003 – which has added up to an average winning score of 12 under par, thanks to alow of 23 and a high of six, the former coming at Muthaiga and the latter at Karen.
It is invariably a close encounter too, with an average winningmargin of just two strokesoften carved out in fine style, requiring a score of around67on the final day to ensure they get their hands on the hallowed black rhino trophy.
In the past 15 editions there have been people to buck that trend, however, namely Daniel Vancsik en route to the 2005 title,posting a 63 at Karen Country Clubto win by three.
A trio of players have been at the other end of that spectrum though, with Johan Axgren and Edoardo Molinari both cardingclosing 70sen route to the top spot in consecutive years from 2006, the same score as Roos 12 months ago.
"It’s a great privilege to have been able to play in this event so to actually win it and be able to play some events in Europe is just huge for me." - Jake Roos, 2014 Barclays Kenya Open winner
Tale of the tape
The roll of honour in Kenya is a particularly cosmopolitan one, witheight nationalitiesrepresented upon the top step of the podium from the past 15 instalments.England have the most winners with five, and South Africa a close second with four, while a single player from Argentina, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Zimbabwe have all sipped the sweet nectar of success in Nairobi.
In this time, winning this event – which usually comes around third on the Challenge Tour schedule– has proven a good omen, with the victors going on to finish anaverage of 13thon the second tier Rankings. That would be good enough in any season to earn a place on The European Tour, a feat that11 former winnershave achieved.
England’sLee S Jamesis the only man to have won since 1999 and gone on toclaim top spot on the season-long list. That was in 2002, and some four years later Axgren came close to matching him, but the Swede would eventually finish runner-up overall to Mark Pilkington.
Looking back through the recent history of the event, three names also stand out from the roll of honour, in terms of what they went on to achieve afterwards.Molinariwon in 2007 en route to the first of two graduations, the second coming two years later thanks to a record Challenge Tour prize haul.
The 2010 Ryder Cup player and two-time European Tour winner from Italy is joined by Argentina’sVancsikfrom 2005, who himself has won three times on The Race to Dubai, while2008 Masters Champion Trevor Immelmanis another high profile name on the list of former winners.
That season was a particularly strong edition of the Kenya Open, looking back, as Immelman triumphed over currentWorld Number Two Henrik Stensonwho finished runner-up to the South African in 2000, while three-time European Tour winning FrenchmanGregory Havretwas third.
Home grown heroes
Throughout its history, the Challenge Tour has always been devoted to growing the game in the territories it visits, and anaverage of 26 Kenyan playershave teed it up in this event each season. Two years ago saw the highest turn out of local golfers though, when33 playersentered the event.
Jacob Okellois responsible for the best finish by a local since 1999, when he finishedfourth in 2007, an improvement of one place on his best performance of the season before. During this time the average position of thehighest placed Kenyan golfer has been 21st, and Greg Snow has been the latest to take up that baton, finishing tenth a year ago.
