By DAIELLA APIYO

The 2015 KCB Golf Tour will  tee-off at Royal Golf Club on March 11 and culminates with the Grand Finale at the Nyali Golf Course on August 8, officials announced yesterday.
The Bank announced this at an official launch yesterday as it committed a total of Kshs. 25 Million towards organisation of the Tour as well as facilitating for the three golfers who will be sponsored by KCB to play at the South Africa based Sunshine Tour next week.
The five leg series, which prepares local pros for the prestigious Kenya Open, has a prize fund of Ksh. 5.5million.
The first four tournaments at Royal, Thika, Kisumu and will carry a prize fund of Ksh. 1Million each and a further Ksh.  1.5Million for the Grand Finale in Nyali.
Last year, in an effort to make the tour more exciting to the players, KCB pledged to take the top 3 pros of the tour to participate in this Sunshine Tour event and true to its word; the 3 professionals will be headed to South Africa this weekend.
Top three Kenyan professional golfers Dismas Indiza, David Wakhu and CJ Wangai depart today and will be participating in the two rounds of the prestigious Sunshine Tour.
During the players send off-cum launch of the 2015 KCB Golf Tour at Kencom House in Nairobi, KCB Chief Business Officer and MD Kenya Samuel Makome said the sponsorship of the three golfers in the Sunshine Tour highlights KCB Corporate Golf tour as a premium tour that promotes top players in the golfing fraternity where they get the opportunity to compete with their peers globally. The KCB Golf Tours have become the cornerstone of developing regional/local professionals ahead of the annual Kenya Open Golf Championship and the PGA Sunshine Tour in South Africa.
“The Tour which incorporates professional and amateur golfers is by and large considered a ‘must play’ event as it is the second biggest event in the pecking order after the prestigious Kenya Open. We are excited with the fact that the international exposure will help boost the standards of pro golf in Kenya,” said Mr Makome.
Indiza who is attached to Mumias Golf Club, Royal’s Wakhu and CJ Wangai of Sigona landed the sponsorship after topping the KCB Golf Tour Order of Merit last year.
During last year’s Order of Merit, Indiza retained the top accolade followed by Wakhu on 48.5 points. Wakhu picked up 15 points in the Grand Finale at Nyali while Sigona’s John Wangai wrapped up the 2014 KCB Order of Merit in third place with a total of 46.5 points.
This year, KCB Golf has lived up to its promise to sponsor Kenyans in the South African series, a gesture intended to help golfers further their golfing skills and above all brush shoulders with the cream of the continent’s best.
Professional Golfers of Kenya Chairman Jacob Okello while wishing the three Kenyans well, thanked the management of KCB Group for their long-standing support of pro golf in the country.
“KCB has supported us for the umpteenth time and the send-off we are witnessing here today is a true indication that the KCB Golf Tour 2015 is rated as second to none,” said Okello who is easily Kenya’s most successful player at the Kenya Open.
The Kenyan trio begins their Sunshine Tour campaign with the Dimension Data Pro-Am slated for February 19 – 22 in George, South Africa. The three will then head to the Jo’burg Open where they will play in the qualifiers on February 24. Johannesburg Open runs from February 26th to March 1st in Johannesburg.
The Sunshine Tour is a men’s professional golf tour based in Southern Africa. For a lengthy part of its history it was known either as the South African Tour or the FNB Tour, but it re-branded itself in a deliberate attempt to broaden its appeal.

THE KCB GOLF TOUR 2015:
March 11-14: Royal Nairobi
April 11-14: Thika Sports Club
May 14-16: Nyanza Golf Club
July 2-4: Nakuru Golf Club
August 5-8: Nyali Golf Club cheap nike air max 97 cheap nike air max 97

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