Kenya's top amateur golfer Michael Karanga poses with Golfer of the Year trophy during the Nyali Open tournament at Nyali Golf and Country Club on December 10, 2023.
With the 2024 Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) series featuring more events than last year’s, more fireworks are expected between the local amateurs and their Ugandan rivals.
During last year’s series, Godfrey Nsubuga from Mehta Golf Club in Uganda, became the biggest challenger of Kenya’s Michael Karanga and although the Kenyan went on to top the charts, Nsubuga still managed to snatch three of the 26 golf titles.
This propelled him to eventually claim his home major championship, the Uganda Open, which he followed up with the Tanzania Open towards the end of the year.
In this year’s calendar, the Kenya Golf Union (KGU) has revived the Diani Beach Masters at Leisure Lodge in Kwale County.
The “DBM”, as it was popularly known then, started as a Pro-Am event before it was upgraded to Golfer of the Year status.
It did not, however, last long due lack of sponsorship.
Its revival now gives the Coast region a total of four KAGC events, the others being the Coast Open, Nyali Open and Malindi Open.
The other newly-introduced KAGC event, which brings the total number of the top amateur tournaments to 28, is the Great Rift Valley Golf Championship at the Great Rift Golf Resort in Naivasha.
Busiest year ever
These, together with a number of International events within and without Kenya, make for the busiest year ever for Kenyan golfers.
And, once again, the man to watch will be Michael Karanga whose fireworks triggered by his record-breaking 10 under par at the very first event of the season, the Sigona Bowl at Sigona Golf Club in January, kept Kenyan golf followers busy throughout the year.
Besides dominating the local golf scene, Karanga also steered Kenya’s national team to retaining its supremacy in the East Africa region by retaining the Africa Region Four title in Addis Ababa where Karanga also set one of his course records.
He then travelled to Ghana where he clinched the Ghana Open Amateur Championship.
The 28-year-old Karanga, who started his golfing career at the tiny Ndumberi Golf Club way back in 2006, eventually went on to claim 13 victories in the Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) series, some of them in course records.
But 2023 was certainly the worse year for the local professionals, though one cannot blame them for that.
Soon after the Magical Kenya Open at Muthaiga in March where young pro Mutahi Kibugu, like his young brother in 2022, put up a brave fight to eventually finish in the money-list, nothing came up for the local pros.
Lack of sponsorship
Over the past six or so years, the local pros have been depending on the Kenya Open Golf Limited-organised Safari Tour for them to shapen-up their skills not only for the Open but also international events.
However, owing to lack of sponsorship, the sixth season of the Safari Tour could not kick off until the first week of November with the Uganda Open at Uganda Golf Club Kampala.
This is where Kenya’s most popular pro, Dismas Indiza, clinched his seventh Uganda Open title with an impressive score of 11 under par at the Kitante course, winning 21 million Ugandan shillings (about Sh807,692).
Before then, a few professionals had travelled to Cote d’Ivoire for that country’s Open, Kinshasa Open in DRC and Nigeria for some invitational events, but no Kenyan won.
Coming back home, a few of them had been invited in some amateur club events but that was all until the second leg of the Safari Tour Season Sixth kick off in the second week of December where home player Mike Kisia posted his first maiden victory, thanks to the support of Betika, a betting company which offered one million shillings for the event.
Four more events are expected to be held in this month from where the Kenya Open Golf limited will announce the pros who will feature in the 2024 Magical Kenya Open from February 22 at the Muthaiga Golf Club.
But back on the amateur scene, the man of the year in 2023 Karanga, whose wish is to play well in the Magical Kenya Open and hopefully bring his World Rankings to below 50, besides the Sigona Bowl, went on to Muthaiga Open, Windsor Classic, Railway Invitational, Coronation Cup, Limuru Open, Coast Open, Kenya Amateur Match Play Championship, Malindi Open, Kenya Amateur Stroke Play, Kabete Open, Karen Challenge and Manchester Salver.
20-year-old record
All these wins enabled him to break professional Kopan Timbe’s 20-year-old record of 11 out of 15 events.
Karanga won 13 out of 18 tournaments he played where he only lost in Njoro, Nandi Open, Winston Churchill Cup in Thika, his home event Kiambu Open, and the last event of the season, the Nyali Open.
He missed events like Nyanza Open, Teafields Trophy, Goldfields in Kakamega and the Trans Nzoia Open.
And because these events were played when he was out of the country for international events such as the Amateur Championship in the United Kingdom, Egypt Open and Ghana Open where he emerged victorious.
Sh1,562,117 after tax
He was crowned the best amateur golfer of the year 2023 during the Nyali Open having collected a total of 1,213 points, while in terms of earning, since the amateur players are now are able to earn cash, Karanga, for all the events he played, took home a total of Sh1,562,117 after tax.
He lifted his World Amateur Rankings to 74th and fifth in Africa behind four South Africans Chrsto Lamprecht, Christian Mass, and Ben Van Wyk.
He has no intention of turning professionals, meaning he will still be the man to watch come 2024.
One player who many Kenyans will also remember, is the Vipingo Ridge based Naomi Wafula who not only made cut in the Magical Kenya Ladies Open at Vipingo in February, but went on to feature in a number of events in the KAGC series where ladies are allowed to play along with the men players for the purpose of getting World Amateur Rankings and earn cash as well.
One of the pioneers of the Rose Naliaka Golf Academy, Wafula not only several top 10 finishes but also became the first female golfer to win a KAGC event.
And in doing saw she had to battle Ugandan golfer Godfrey Nsubuga in an eight holes play off during the Kiambu Open where the Ugandan, however, took the trophy and the KAGC points.
According to the KAGC conditions of play, the lady golfers can only compete for the money and World Amateur Rankings since the KAGC is a male series.
Judging by the way Wafula and her colleagues such as Kiambu’s Joyce Wanjiru, Diana Mbuba of Royal and Golf Park’s Margaret Njoki, the 2024 KAGC promises to be a battle not just between the local men and the Ugandans, but also against the ladies as well.
If the conditions of play in the KAGC do not change, the Ugandans and other players from some of the East African countries such as Tanzania and Rwanda are likely to increase hence a big challenge for Karanga and his colleagues.
2024 is definitely a year that promises some fireworks in Kenya’s amateur golf scene.
