Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s, Sarah Khanyereri, poses with a dummy ticket to this year’s Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship Pro-Am tournament that she was awarded by the Kenya Breweries Limited.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

Kenya Breweries Limited has today awarded Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s golfer, Sarah Khanyereri, with a 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship PRO-AM ticket after she emerged overall winner of the 2019 Kabete Ladies Open tournament that was held at the Vet Lab Sports Club today.

Sarah returned the tournament’s lowest gross score of 77 to emerge overall winner ahead of Sigona Golf Club’s Jane Njau, who returned an equally-impressive gross score of 78 to emerge the tournament’s Silver Gross Winner. Vet Lab’s Dorcas Mukabi and Mary Karano returned gross scores of 80 and 83 to clinch silver gross runner-up and silver gross third place respectively. Vet Lab Sports Club’s Bee Jones returned a gross score of 96 to emerge the bronze gross winner.

Speaking after being awarded with both the tournament’s overall winner’s trophy and the 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship PRO-AM ticket, Sarah said she was pleased with her performance today, adding that she is looking forward to play alongside some of the world’s top golfers at the Kenya Open PRO-AM.

“I had a pretty calm day and all I needed to do was play easy and all I did was to apply what I have learnt on the course today and I am pleased with the results. It’s a great privilege to be playing at this year’s Magical Kenya Open Pro-Am. My hope is to get a lot of experience and learned golf tricks from the PROs by watching how they tackle every shot,” she said.

Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) Managing Director, Jane Karuku (right) with Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s, Sarah Khanyereri.

Commenting on the award, Kenya Breweries Limited Managing Director, Jane Karuku said: “Having been involved in the Safari Tour to help our local PROs prepare for this year’s Kenya Open, today we took the opportunity to reward one of the best lady golfers in the country, who was Sarah, to play alongside one of the best pros from Europe at the Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship PRO-AM where she can learn golf tricks and expose her to what the world has to offer in terms of golf. As EABL, we wish her well at the tournament,” she said.

Other winners of the day included and Margaret Nyakango who returned a nett score of 73 to emerge the silver nett winner and Martha Koome, who returned a score of 68 nett, to emerge the bronze nett winner. Sigona Golf Club’s Nonee Muhire was crowned longest drive winner while Limuru’s Mukami Wangai emerged the nearest-to-the-pin winner.

The 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship PRO-AM tournament will be played on Wednesday, the 13^th of March 2019 at the Karen Country Club ahead of the main tournament proper which will tee off on Thursday, the 14^th of March thorough to Sunday, the 17^th of March. Kenyan amateurs will get a chance to play alongside local, regional and renowned top professional golfers from across the world who include 15-time European Tour Champion, Thomas Bjorn.

Preparations for this year’s Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship Presented by Absa, where 12 Kenyan professionals golfers and six Kenyan elite amateurs are set to play, are in top gear.

Kenya’s team of Golf Pros and Elite Amateurs unveiled at the Nairobi National Park.

By DANIELLA APIYO AND AMANDA DAMARIS

The Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife has today unveiled the 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship Kenyan professional and elite amateur golf players.

This year’s Kenya Open Golf Championship will have a field of 156 players made up of professionals and amateurs drawn from across the world.

Kenya will be represented by 18 golf players at this year’s tournament; 12 professional golfers and 6 elite amateur golfers.

The pros unveiled at a colourful ceremony at the Nairobi National Park were Greg Snow of Muthaiga Golf Club, Dismas Indiza of Mumias Sugar Golf Club, David Opati of Windsor Golf and Country Club, Rizwan Charania of Windsor Golf and Country Club, David Wakhu and Tony Omuli of Golf Park Golf Club, C.J. Wangai of Sigona Golf Club, Nelson Simwa of Vet Lab Sports Club, Simon Ngige of Thika Golf Club, Erick Ooko of Royal Nairobi Golf Club, Justus Madoya of Great Rift Valley Golf Resort and Philip Kasozi of Uganda Golf Club.

The elite amateur golfers who were unveiled were Daniel Nduva of Nyali Golf and Country Club, Samuel Njoroge of Railway Golf Club, Mutahi Kibugu of Muthaiga Golf Club, Edwin Mudanyi of Vet Lab Sports Club, Mike Kisia also of Vet Lab Sports Club and Bradley Mogire of Emirates Golf Club.

Speaking during the unveiling ceremony, the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife, Hon. Najib Balala said: “As a Ministry, we are proud to unveil the Kenyan Pros and elite amateurs that will represent Kenya at the 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship which is set to provide exposure to Kenya as a preferred golf tourism destination both on the local and international scene.”

The Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary hailed the prominent role that sports has played in raising Kenya’s global profile as a destination, citing the exploits of individuals such as Eliud Kipchoge who broke the world marathon record at the 2018 Berlin Marathon as a major boost to Kenya’s recognition on the world map.

CS Balala said: “We are committed to leveraging on sports in order to create a stronger brand association between our sports personalities and Kenya as a destination. This is why we are intent on supporting our champions in the fields of athletics, rugby and golf to market Kenya as the preferred sports destination.”

Mumias based Pro golfer, Dismas Indiza, the winner of the Karen leg of the Safari Tour.

The CS further said that through the Government of Kenya’s KSh. 250 million sponsorship support, the 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship will prominently position Kenya as a destination to a global audience through live TV broadcasting opportunities that will be availed through the tournament’s new status as a European Tour tournament.

“The Magical Kenya brand will receive wide visibility through live coverage by the European Tour (ET) Production Team that will be transmitted to over 490 million homesin more than 150 countries, generating in excess of 2200 global broadcast hours for each event. The live feed will be available to 40 broadcasters around the worldincluding Sky Sports in the UK and The Golf Channel in the U.S.  DSTV’s SuperSport are the official broadcasters in Africa.”

The Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary added: “Additionally, Kenya’s golf tourism offering will be on show to golfers and golf fans across the world through the European Tour TV (ETTV), a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week online golf channel that is available in every territory across the entire planet – reaching fans beyond the regular broadcast footprint. This level of exposure is critical to Kenya’s tourism success especially viewed in light of the fact that the global golf travel market is between 6 and 9.1 million travelers. The U.S. – Kenya’s number one tourist source market – has the highest number of golf travelers at between 3.7 and 5.6 million travelers.”

Also speaking at the event, Kenya Open Golf Limited Chairman, Mr. Peter Kanyago said: “We are grateful to the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, and by extension the Kenya Tourism Board, for this support. It is our conviction that through this year’s tournament’s outreach through the vast live television broadcast, Magical Kenya will be positively profiled across the world. By extension, Kenya’s tourism offering will be amplified through the engagement,” he said.

Besides Kenya, there will be close to 30 other countries that will be represented at the 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship scheduled to take place at Karen Country Club from 13^th to 17^th March, 2019. The countries to be represented range from Australia to the United Kingdom.

Among the international star golf players expected to participate in the 2019 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship include Haydn Porteous, immediate former Ryder Cup captain and 15-time European Tour Champion Thomas Bjorn, Ho-sung Choi and Shubhankar Sharma.

Since it begun in 1967, the Kenya Open Golf Championship has transformed into an international sporting event of note that has attracted hundreds of international golf players over the years – most of whom are from Kenya’s top tourism source markets in Europe such as the United Kingdom.