MAGICAL KENYA LADIES OPEN PRO-AM ATTRACTS FIELD OF 120
By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS
The Magical Kenya Ladies Open Pro-Am tournament, to be held tomorrow at the par-72 PGA Baobab course at Vipingo Ridge and presented by M-Pesa, has attracted an impressive field of 120 golfers setting the stage for a grand opening to the tournament.
Astrid Vayson De Pradenne from France will get the Pro-Am underway when she leads her team of Patrick Obath, Terry Obath and Francis Okwara off the first tee at 7:45am; while Spain’s Noemi Jimenez Martin will lead the team of Zawadi Safari, Susan Stokes and Christine Ocktoch off the tee at the tenth at the same time.
Ladies European Tour Order of Merit current leader, and four-time Ladies European Tour winner, Marianne Skarpnord from Norway, will lead her team of Dominic Makau, Solomon Angutsa and Wilfred Achilla off the tee at the first at 8:55am at the first; while runner-up in the Order of Merit, Esther Henseleit from Germany, gets underway at 8:05am at the tenth tee in the company of Pauline Gachihi, Sheena Round-Turner and Anis Popat.
Meanwhile, two-time Ladies European Tour champion, 25-year-old Meghan MacLaren from England, will lead her team of Kerry Venturini, Eunice Koome and Margret Thande off the tee at 9:15am at the first.
Tiger Woods’ niece, Cheyenne Woods, will tee off at the first in the company of Martha Vincent, Jean Ngengi and Lawrence Kimathi as she embarks on the challenge to seal her maiden LET event victory in Vipingo. Three-time LET champion, 21-year-old Aditi Ashok from India (who won her first LET event at 18), tees off at the 10th tee at 7:55am alongside Alysa Jamal, Elizabeth Kimkung and Hanif Walli.
Three African players, Maha Haddioui from Morocco, Georgia Oboh from Nigeria and Stacy Lee Bregmann from South Africa, have been selected to feature in the Pro-Am. Haddioui will lead her team of Sarah Hoare, Phyllis Kimbo and Liz Gitobu off the tee at the 10th at 8:45am while Oboh leads her team of Mary Wambui, Alice Wahome and Naomi Wamboi off the 10th tee at 9:15am. Lee Bregmann will tee off at 9:25am Gladys Mutisya, Haresh Bhatia and Cheryl Rautenbach.
The Pro-Am tournament will culminate in a golf clinic for 26 junior golfers who will be coached by four LET players. The 26 junior golfers will be divided into two groups of 20 and six, and will be taken through golf basics on chipping and putting.
The junior golfers will be coached by four-time LET winner, Linda Wessberg from Sweden, two-time LET winner Meghan MacLaren, two-time LET winner, Felicity Johnson and Nigerian Georgia Oboh.
The Magical Kenya Ladies Open is sponsored by Magical Kenya, M-Pesa, Capital FM, KCB, Aquamist, East African Breweries, Turkish Airlines, Vipingo Development, KPA and Wilken.