Pro-am event kick starts Magical Kenya Open
Marcus Armitage plays a shot during a practise session at the Muthaiga Golf Club ahead of the Magical Kenya Open which starts on March 3, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Of the local pros, Mohit Mediratta will be off first at 7.20am, followed by Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi, while Justus Madoya will also tee off from 7.20am, but on the 10th tee, while Greg Snow and Dismas Indiza are in the afternoon draw.
- The course, which has been well prepared for this year’s Open, is in great condition and ready for the main event on Thursday where a field of 144 will be battling it out, with six of them being local amateurs led by Kenya’s leading amateur Adel Balala.
The 2022 edition of the annual Magical Kenya Open, which is back at Muthaiga Golf Club where it was born 55 years ago, officially gets underway Wednesday with the Pro-Am event, a curtain-raiser that usually gives an opportunity to players to test the challenging par 71 course.
The event also offers a chance to the local amateurs especially those from the various corporates that are sponsoring this year’s Magical Kenya Open, which being staged for the third year as part of the DP World Tour series, formerly the European Tour.
The Open is also coming back to its originally home for the first time since 2018 when it was known as the Barclays Kenya Open.
This year’s Pro-Am has attracted a field of 205 players including 52 pros, who will be partnered by three amateurs.
However, only five players who qualified from the local Safari Golf Tour, namely Mohit Mediratta, Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi, Dismas Indiza and Greg Snow, will be in action during the pro-am.
From the list of the visiting players who were drawn to play include Magical Kenya Open defending champion Justin Harding from South Africa, who is among the leading professionals who will be going for the title this year.
Harding, who is teeing off at 1.10pm, will be accompanied by Kenya Open Golf Limited chairman Peter Kanyago, K. Pelley and J. Dale.
Other leading professionals in action are Daniel van Tonder from South Africa, Spain’s Jorge Campillo, who is drawn with amateurs Lawrence Kiambi, Jimmy Kimondo and Junior Golf Foundation trustee Regina Gachora.
All of them are drawn in the afternoon, while the morning draw will have players like Dan Burmester also from South Africa, and former Magical Kenya Open champion Guido Migliozzi from Italy.
Of the local pros, Mohit Mediratta will be off first at 7.20am, followed by Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi, while Justus Madoya will also tee off from 7.20am, but on the 10th tee, while Greg Snow and Dismas Indiza are in the afternoon draw.
The course, which has been well prepared for this year’s Open, is in great condition and ready for the main event on Thursday where a field of 144 will be battling it out, with six of them being local amateurs led by Kenya’s leading amateur Adel Balala.
Elsewhere, Muthaiga Golf Club Monday received a boost of Sh2 million shillings from Crown Paints Plc, to aid in preparations for the Magical Kenya Open tournament.
According to club chairman Ronald Meru, the money is part of the donations the club has received to cover the cost of course preparation and up-grading of other club.
For the club to host the Magical Kenya Open, there were a number of conditions to be fulfilled.
The first condition was to develop a driving range, which was done at the Kenya Forest Services, off Kiambu Road as the existing range was too short for an international event like the Magical Kenya Open in its new status.
“We have spent so much money in doing the range, Players and Golf Cart Bridge and the fencing of the first nine. We are therefore most grateful for the support we have received from corporates like Crown Paints and others like Centum who gave us Sh5 million and Nestle who donated machine and and products worth Sh3million’’ said Meru.
