MAGICAL KENYA LADIES OPEN ANNOUNCES SH 33.7M PRIZE PURSE
By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS
The 2019 Magical Kenya Ladies Open, a Ladies European Tour event sponsored by Magical Kenya and Safaricom’s M-Pesa, will offer a total prize fund of Sh 33.7 million (Euros 300,000) with the overall winner taking home Sh 5 million (Euros 45,000).
Announcing the prize purse, event promoter U.COM’s Dirk Glittenberg said that the purse was globally competitive. “This is the first time a Ladies European Tour event is being held in Kenya and we are delighted that we have received the necessary support to enable us to host this event and offer a globally acceptable and attractive prize purse. Professional golfers choose which tournaments to play in based on a variety of factors – course condition, hospitality is important, convenience of getting to the venue, the overall experience expected and naturally the prize purse plays a big part in that decision-making process.”
The Euros300,000 prize fund for the Magical Kenya Ladies Open positions the event as one of the richest on the Ladies European Tour. The Investec South Africa Women’s Open, played in Cape Town, offers a prize fund of US$135,600 (Sh13.6m) and the Lalla Meryem Cup, played at the Royal Dar Es Salam Blue Course in Morocco, offers a prize fund of Euros450,000 (Sh50.5m). The prize fund at the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi is US$300,000 and at the Jordan Mixed Open, it is US$393,000.
“There are 17 events on the Ladies European Tour calendar, excluding the Majors, eight of those offer a smaller prize purse than the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, four offer more and another four offer the same prize fund of Euros300,000,” Glittenberg added. “We however understand that these professional golfers will also be driven to this beautiful country by factors over and above the prize purse and we know they will have a great time in Kenya. They can visit the beautiful beaches and game parks, enjoy the coastal cuisine and take away with them an experience of a lifetime.”
The Magical Kenya Ladies Open takes place from the 5th to the 8th December 2019 on the PGA Baobab Course at Vipingo Ridge.