From Left PGK director Elisha Kasuku, PGK Chairman Charan Thethy, KOGL Chairman Peter Kanyago and KGU chairman Richard Wanjala pose at the Muthaiga Golf Club.

By AMANDA DAMARIS

The Kenya Open Golf Limited (KOGL) has today announced a Ksh2 Million sponsorship towards the Professional Golfers of Kenya to support preparations of the Kenyan professional golfers ahead of the 2018 Barclays Kenya Open Golf Championship.

This year’s tournament will see a field of 22 Kenyan golfers go against over 100 international professionals for a total prize kitty of £500,000 (KES. 62.5 Million – the biggest kitty on the European Challenge Tour. Speaking during the cheque hand over at the Muthaiga Golf Club, KOGL Chairman, Mr. Peter Kanyago, expressed the board’s commitment towards improving golf standards in the country.

“At the Kenya Open Golf Limited, we remain deeply committed to ensure that the sport of golf grows, not just among the professional players, but also among the junior players. To this effect, we are sponsoring the Professional Golfers of Kenya to the tune of KShs 2 Million to ensure that they have the best preparations possible. We trust that this will go towards helping the pros prepare adequately and give them a better chance at winning this year’s tournament,” he said.

The deal will also see the Kenyan professionals receive specialized training ahead of the tournament, as part of their preparations.

“As part of the partnership, we will be sponsoring two professionals from South Africa, who have been engaged by the Professional Golfers of Kenya to train the local professionals ahead of this year’s Kenya Open. In addition, there will also be a trainer to help our local Pros work on the nutrition and mental part of the game,” said Mr. Kanyago.

Last year, the Kenya Open Golf Limited organized for two European teaching professionals to come to Kenya to train the local professionals in a bid to enhance their skills ahead of the 2017 tournament. The training lasted three days and covered all the professionals that had qualified for the 2017 Barclays Kenya Open Championship.

Speaking at the same event, Professional Golfers of Kenya Chairman Mr. Charan Thethy thanked KOGL for their generous donation and assistance in the preparations for the Kenya Open and assured them that the money will be put into good use.

“On behalf of the PGK, I want to thank KOGL for this generous donation towards our preparations for the 2018 Kenya Open. This gesture comes at the right time as we are in the middle of the qualifying rounds for the tournament. This money will be put to good use and ensure that our pros as adequately prepared for the Kenya Open as possible,” he said.

The 2018 Kenya Open will be held from the 22^nd to the 25^th of March 2018 at the Muthaiga Golf club; with the final list of Kenyan players scheduled to take part in the tournament being made Public in March after the conclusion of the 5-leg qualification tour that is being conducted by the Professional Golfers of Kenya.

Mr. Kanyago added that the KOGL has received a lot of interest from players across the world and expect to have a better field of players from across the globe.

“So far, we have had over 30 requests from international players who want to take part in this year’s tournament, compared to only 10 requests at a similar time last year. Over the coming weeks, we will announce details of some of the international and local players that will be taking part in this year’s tournament,” he said.

The tournament will be preceded by two Pro-Am events on the 20^th and 21^st of March at the Muthaiga Golf club, that shall be sponsored by the Kenya Open Golf Limited and the Barclays Bank of Kenya respectively.

Ticket prices for this year’s tournament will be KSh. 500 daily and KSh. 1,000 for the season ticket; they are available for purchase at www.ticketsasa.com. cheap air max mens cheap air max mens

Kenya Open Golf Limited Chairman Peter Kanyago tees off from the KICC rooftop during the launch of the 50th edition of the Kenya Open today.

By DANIELLA APIYO

Local professional golfers seem to be on a collision path again with the organisers of this year’s Kenya Open Golf Championships to be held at the Muthaiga Golf Club between March 22 and 25.

This emerged today during the official launch of the premier competition at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala announced that they were keen to use the event which is part of the European Tour to market the country as Africa’s destination for golf tourism.

While tournament sponsors Barclays used the launch to introduce a qualifying series, the Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) led by their captain Charan Thethy vowed not to participate in the Barclays series and instead would go ahead with there self organised qualifiers which teed off last weekend at Muthaiga.

“We have been given 22 slots for local professionals, so the tournament organisers should wait for PGK to give them the 22 names. How we make the names, we know better,” Thethy said.

He added: “We know nothing about the launched Barclays series, but all I can say is that we have our own qualifiers which will culminate with the Jamii Masters in Sigona on March 13-15. We have been playing the qualifiers without any sponsorship and we continue.”

Kenya Open Golf Limited Director Kathleen Kihanya tees off from the KICC rooftop during the launch of the 50th edition of the Kenya Open today.

Contrary to PGK’s plan, Barclays, the title sponsors of the Kenya Open have indicated that their Sh 32 million sponsored series will feature the Nairobi Open at the Karen Golf Club on February 2, followed by the Nakuru Open at the Nakuru Golf Club February 10, then the Kisumu Golf Open at the Nyanza Golf Club on February 24. These will be followed by the Pwani Open at the Nyali Golf Club on March 3 and then the Mt. Kenya Open at the Thika Golf Club on March 10.

Kenya has been handed 22 slots for the professionals and six for amateurs but only 18 are being contested for as four professionals have made the cut to feature in the challenge tour.

The four include Mumias’ Dismas Indiza, Thika’s Simon Ngige and Windsor’s Riz Charania who made the cut in last year’s edition of the Open while Stephan Andersen has been handed a wild card for his current form and performance in the just concluded BMW South Africa Open held in January 11-14.

Meanwhile, following the president’s directive to have the prize money for the Open increased, the government has sponsored the event to a tune of Sh 102.3 million (1million dollars) for a period of five years.

The increase in prize money aims at raising the bar of the championship, increasing participation of local players and attracting a higher caliber of players from across the globe which will result in golf development from the junior ranks to the elite amateurs across the country. It will also go a long way in marketing the country as a tourism destination.

On their part Barclays has committed a total Sh82 million this year, comprising Sh50 million for Barclays Kenya Open sponsorship and the Sh32 million meant for the qualifying series. nike air max junior nike air max junior