Ahead of the 2018 European Challenge Tour season-opener, the Barclays Kenya Open, we bring you five storylines to look out for this week.
A landmark year
This year the Kenya Open is celebrating its 50thanniversary. First held in 1967, the Nairobi event is one of the longest-running African tournaments on the European circuit, having hosted both the European and Challenge Tours over the course of six decades.
Major Champions Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam and Trevor Immelman have all triumphed in East Africa, while last year Aaron Rai delighted the home crowds by lifting the famous trophy in front of his emotional Kenya-born mother.
The Kenya Open, which was not played in 1976 and 2003, will take place at Muthaiga Golf Club for the 41sttime this week – neighbouring Karen Country Club has played host to the event on nine occasions.
A huge incentive
In honour of this significant landmark, partners, sponsors, Kenya Golf Limited and the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta have worked together to raise the prize fund of this year’s event to €500,000 – making it the most lucrative tournament on the Challenge Tour’s 2018 schedule.
With so much on offer this week, expect the fiercest of contests in the Kenyan capital.
Jacob Okello
Stiff competition
Competing for a lion’s share of the half-a-million-Euro prize fund are a combination of seasoned professionals and exciting new talents.
Teeing it up this week are 14 European Tour winners: Estanislao Goya, Roope Kakko, Ross McGowan, Felipe Aguilar, Julien Quesne, Tom Lewis, Gary Stal, Mikael Lundberg, Morten Ørum Madsen, Johan Edfors, Maarten Lafeber, Jeppe Pape Huldahl and Trevor Fisher Jnr, plus 11 Challenge Tour champions from 2018: Victor Perez, Oscar Lengden, Birgir Hafthorsson, Robin Sciot-Siegrist, Paul Howard, Goya, Joel Sjöholm, Garrick Porteous, Richard McEvoy, Oscar Stark and Joel Girrbach.
Other players to watch out for in East Africa include in-form Austrian Matthias Schwab, who finished tied fourth in his last European Tour appearance at the Hero Indian Open, along with Italy’s Francesco Laporta, who claimed third place in his last outing at Muthaiga Golf Club in 2017.
Flying the home flag will be Jacob Okello, who will make a record-breaking 21stKenya Open appearance this year. Twenty years ago Okello came close to becoming the first Kenyan to win their home Open – he narrowly lost out in a three-hole play-off to eventual champion Ricardo Gonzalez, who won with a par at the 13th hole at Muthaiga Golf Club, while Okello made bogey.
Gary Boyd
We are the champions
Also in this week’s field are a number of past Kenya Open champions. Englishmen Gary Boyd and Robert Dinwiddie, who triumphed at Muthaiga Golf Club in 2009 and 2010 respectively, return to a happy hunting ground along with Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg who came out on top at Karen Country Club in 2016.
Magical Muthaiga
Muthaiga Golf Club, known locally as the ‘Home of Golf’, is one of the oldest and most famous golf courses in Kenya.
The 18-hole championship layout was re-designed by renowned South African course designer Peter Matkovich, who in 2004 made changes to Muthaiga which now means it has some of the fastest greens in East Africa.
Winding through the lush woodlands of the Karura Forest, Muthaiga Golf Club is both scenic and challenging with numerous lakes running throughout.
