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TOURNAMENT SPOTLIGHT
MAGICAL AFRICA AWAITS
The DP World Tour returns to Muthaiga GC for another instalment of this popular event. Brendan Barratt
The Magical Kenya Open dates back to 1967 and has grown in stature from its origins as part of the Far East circuit to its position as a regular stop on the DP World Tour calendar.
The $2.5-million event kicks off the African leg of the DP World Tour’s seven-stop International Swing this year, with players then migrating south to play at the Investec South African Open at Durban County Club and the Joburg Open at Houghton.
As one might expect, some of the Tour’s marquee names will opt out of making the long journey to East Africa, given the tournament’s relatively low ranking points and prize money. Yet this opens the door for the players who do make the effort and the tournament has established something of a reputation for unearthing new talent. The likes of Darius van Driel (2024), Guido Migliozzi (2019), Lorenzo Gagli (2018), Aaron Rai (2017), Sebastian Soderberg (2016) and Haydn Porteous (2015) all made their professional breakthroughs with victories here.
Going further back, the tournament throws up even more significant names, all from players establishing themselves as future world-beaters.
Seve Ballesteros won here in 1978, while other prominent names that appear on the trophy include fellow Ryder Cuppers Ken Brown, Eamonn Darcy, Brian Barnes, Ian Woosnam, Christy O’Connor Jr and Edoardo Molinari. Other big names to have played at the tournament – and this is way before the days of appearance money – include Major winners Vijay Singh, Sandy Lyle, Bobby Locke, Nick Faldo, Bob Charles and Billy Casper.
Gallery below
From a South African perspective, the Magical Kenya Open has proved to be a happy hunting ground since the turn of the century, with wins for Trevor Immelman, Ashley Roestoff, Michiel Bothma, Jake Roos, Haydn Porteous and Justin Harding, with the latter claiming his second DP World Tour title here in 2021.
The closest the Kenyans have come to celebrating a home win was in 1998, when Jacob Okello agonisingly lost in a playoff to Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez. Sadly, the Kenyan wait looks set to continue for quite some time, although just making the cut in a DP World Tour event would be reason enough for the home crowd to celebrate.
Brothers Njoroge and Mutahi Kibugu, who made the cut in 2022 and 2023 respectively, and Greg Snow, all of whom play out of Muthaiga Golf Club, are arguably best placed to achieve this of the eight Kenyans who qualified for this year’s event.
The tournament returns once again to Nairobi’s Muthaiga Golf Club, which has hosted 43 of the 55 editions of the Magical Kenya Open – with the other 12 being played at Karen Country Club, located 30 minutes away.
The course has been in existence since the 1920s, but received a facelift by South African course architect Peter Matkovich in the early 2000s, reopening for play in 2004. The website proudly proclaims that the course has the most water features and the fastest greens of any in East Africa.
Gallery below
BREAKING NEW GROUND
At the 2024 Magical Kenya Open, the G4D Tour made history with its first visit to Africa. The field at Muthaiga Golf Club featured eight of the top 10 on the Gross Ranking division of the World Ranking for Golfers with a Disability, with Dutch female duo Daphne van Houten and Marcella Neggers also teeing it up.
Kipp Popert claimed a ninth G4D Tour title as he triumphed at this first edition of the G4D Tour @Magical Kenya Open.
Popert, the No 1 player on the World Ranking for Golfers with a Disability, who finished five strokes ahead of fellow G4D Tour winner Lachlan Wood, had high praise for the event.
“It’s been incredible. I’ve never been to Kenya before and as soon as it was added to the schedule, we were buzzing for it. To experience the culture, the colours on the golf course, I had a really good time. It’s been a pleasure to come out here and I’d love to do it again.”
THE PRIDE OF UGANDA
Learn more about Ronald Rugumayo, who became the first Ugandan to make a cut on the DP World Tour at the Magical Kenya Open.
GROWING THE GAME
With initiatives such as the R&A’s golf development sponsorship already in place, the DP World Tour recognises the growth a major tournament can bring to the sport in that area.
In 2024, the Tour donated 24 000 golf balls to the Kenyan Junior Golf Foundation (JGF), which were then distributed to 30 golf clubs around the country.
"The past two years we've doubled the number of kids who play golf thanks to the DP World Tour and the R&A’s initiatives," says JGF president Regina Gachora.
"We as the Junior Golf Foundation have gone from zero coaches to 100 coaches from around the country. We've also distributed about 200 golf sets. And then another 15 have just come from the DP World."
“We are demystifying the view of golf as an elite sport, changing it to one of a sport that can be played by any child in the country,” she adds.
"Kids are seeing that golf is a game they can play like any other sport like football or athletics, which are big in this country. Let golf be one of those sports they think of as their top five games to play.
“It’s important as what the JGF is doing is a new frontier, growing golf not only in Kenya but also showing what could happen in East and Central Africa.”
IMAGES: DP WORLD TOUR/GETTY IMAGES/MUTHAIGA GOLF CLUB/MAGICAL KENYA OPEN/SUPPLED