Thomas Bjorn of Denmark.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

15-time European Tour Champion, and immediate former Ryder Cup Captain, Thomas Bjorn; 2016 winner of the Kenya Open Golf Championship, Sebastian Soderberg; and 2015 winner of the Kenya Open Golf Championship, Haydn Porteous, have expressed excitement to be returning to Kenya to play at the 2019 Magical Kenya Golf Championship.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing Qatar Masters, Bjorn, who will be making his return to Kenya 24 years after he first played at the tournament, said he looks forward to reliving the memories of Kenya and lauded the efforts which have been put in place to elevate the tournament to the European Tour.

“I haven’t been there since 1995 and I enjoyed it back then, so it is going to be great to come back to see what it is like now. They have put a lot of time and effort into getting this tournament into being a regular Tour event so, I believe It’s going to be fun and interesting. I am excited to going to the Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship,” he said.

Bjorn finished tied in second at the 1995 Kenya Open Golf Championship, missing the top spot by five strokes to Englishman James Lee, but went ahead to win four other events on the Challenge Tour calendar that year to emerge The Challenge Tour Rankings Champion.

Remarking on his memories of Kenya, Bjorn said that he appreciates the role the Kenya Open Golf Championship played in shaping his budding career.

“I went down there as a young professional in 1995 playing on the Challenge Tour and, having done some good work over the winter, I was really looking forward to the season and that got me off to a really good start. Obviously, I came up short, but it set me up for the rest of the season to win the Challenge Tour. It’s a place I have always wanted to go back to and now we are going back.”

Commenting on his return to the Kenya Open, Swede Sebastian Soderberg said: “The Kenya Open means a lot to me as it was my first Challenge Tour victory, so I am looking forward to come back and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I haven’t been at the Karen Country Club in a while so I am looking forward to it. For some reason, I have always played well in Kenya so I am looking to a great tournament.”

Soderberg has played at the Kenya Open Golf Championship for four consecutive years since 2015; winning it in 2016 and finishing in sixth last year.

Remarking on his return to Kenya for the Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship, South African pro golfer, Haydn Porteous, said: “It’s been a while since I have played in my backyard and I have some fun memories since I recorded my first win as a pro in Kenya. To go back there would just be magical and I hope I can do something like I did last time.”

He added: “The first time I went to Kenya, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who turned up to watch golf, and now that the tournament is part of the European, I expect even more people to turn up for the tournament”

Haydn has taken part in the Kenya Open Golf Championship in two occasions; 2014 and 2015. He finished a decent 48^th in 2014 before winning the championship the following year.

The 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship tees off at the Karen Country Club on Thursday the 14^th of March and will be preceded by PRO-AM tournament on Wednesday the 13^th. Tickets for the tournament can be purchased via the website www.kenyaopen.golf.

Golfers Ooko Obura, C. J. Wangai, Caroline Ndung’u (Barclays Bank Marketing and Corporate Relations Director), Jeremy Awori (Barclays Bank Managing Director), Samuel Njoroge (Amateur), Justus Madoya and Tony Omuli.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Barclays Bank of Kenya, part of the Absa Group, will sponsor six Kenyan professional players and the leading amateur, Samuel Njoroge, at the Magical Kenya Open championship at the Karen Country Club between March 14^th and 17^th.

The six players are C.J. Wangai (Professional Golfers of Kenya team captain), Tony Omuli, David Opati, Ooko Erick Obura, Jastas Madoya and Rizwan Charania, and are among the 12 Kenyan pros who qualified to play at the Magical Kenya Open this year. As part of this sponsorship, the bank has offered each of the six Pros KES100, 000. Additionally, any of the six players who make the cut on Friday will get a KES 50, 000 bonus with a further KES50, 000 awarded if they finish overall top 20.

Speaking of the sponsorship, Barclays Bank Kenya Managing Director Jeremy Awori challenged the six players to fly the Kenyan flag high during the four-day tournament that will be broadcast live across the world.

“This year will provide one of the greatest challenges many of our Kenyan pros have faced in recent years as each of them will be debuting on the European Tour, we commend them for making it this far and wish them luck in the week ahead,” said Mr. Awori adding that, “It is our hope that the rich history of our tournament can serve to inspire and push each of them to do their best on the course.”

In addition to the elevation of the tournament to the main European Tour, the Kenya Open Golf Limited has already announced a Euros 1.1 million (about KES 126 million) prize pot for the 2019 tournament, double the total money from last year which marked the championship’s 50th anniversary. The event is expected to further boost the country’s sports tourism offering as a result.

This year, Kenya’s hopes are pinned on a set of 12 professional players who booked their places via the Kenya Open Golf Limited’s Safari Tour led by Muthaiga Golf Club’s Greg Snow. Apart from the six above, the other Kenyan pros include Dismas Indiza, David Wakhu, Simon Ngige, and Nelson Simwa. Meanwhile, the amateurs playing at Kenya Open this year include Daniel Nduva, Samuel Njoroge, Edwin Mudanyi, Mike Kisia, Bradley Mogire and Mutahi Kibugu.

Barclays has been synonymous with the Kenya Open for the last 8 years as the main sponsor and this year, as the presenting sponsor. The bank, through Pan-African financial institution Absa Group, has announced an enhanced sponsorship of KES220 million to KOGL for the next two years in tandem with the increased status of the tournament.

“For us at Barclays, the elevation of the Kenya Open to the main European tour could not have come at a better time than this, when we are just about to adopt the Absa brand which is a proudly African, bold and transformative banking group, that is passionate to work with all stakeholders to realize Africa’s potential, demonstrating its transformative and futuristic abilities,” Ms Ndung’u said. “We are thus extremely proud to be associated with this achievement, given the opportunity it affords us and our partners to expose our Kenya golfers to the very best that the world has to offer.”

To date, no Kenyan has ever won the tournament. The closest the country has come to a win was in 1998 when Jacob Okello lost to Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez in a play off at the Muthaiga Golf Club. In 2014, Dismas Indiza and Greg Snow were the best-placed local players, finishing 5^th and 6^th overall, respectively.

Absa’s association with sports sponsorship is long-standing. Absa has been the official sponsor of one of the continent’s biggest football tournament – the Absa Premiership League since 2007, which has seen the growth and development of local and foreign soccer players and coaches within the league. Absa also currently sponsors the Absa Cape Epic, an exhilarating eight-day off-road mountain bike stage race that takes place annually in South Africa’s Western Cape Province.