Preparations in top gear for Kenya Open

A worker trims the grass at Karen Country Club on March 3, 2020 ahead of the Magical Kenya Open starting March 12 to 15. PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT |

What you need to know:

  • A total of 120 crew will be working behind the scenes to enable the production, which will be shared with top media channels such as Sky Sports, Golf Channel and SuperSport for airing live.
  • Top golf TV commentators, Tony Johnstone and Richard Kaufman, are expected back in the commentary box.

With only a week to go until the 2020 Magical Kenya Open presented by Absa, arrangements are in top gear as organisers try to make sure that all the facilities are ready by this weekend for the competition being held under the European Tour banner.

Already, infrastructure work is underway at the Karen County Club, which looks great this year, to cater for the spectators' demands, as well as presenting an excellent course for the players who fly direct to Nairobi after this weekend’s Qatar Masters.

A spot check by Nation Sport on Tuesday revealed crew working to set up intricate structures that will be used as hospitality pavilions for sponsors and tournament organisers. These pavilions are used by sponsors to host and entertain their guests, while they follow golf from advantageous spots.

So serious is the undertaking that a crew of 70 workers has been hired to put up the infrastructure on the golf course under the supervision of a structural engineer from South Africa, with work having started three weeks ago.

Other than the hospitality pavilions, the teams are also erecting 18 TV towers across the course as well as seating bleachers that will accommodate spectators at the first hole tee box and around the 18th green. With the TV towers comes a lot more complex work.

First, the European Tour Production team brings in an array of broadcast and rigging equipment to enable facilitate live production of the event across over 400 million homes across the world.

This involves rigging the entire Karen Golf Club course with over 20kilometres of cabling, which comprises of fibre, audio and triax cables to ensure that the feed is delivered in crisp high definition across the globe.

A total of 17 fixed cameras will be available across the course; while at least three roving Radio Frequency cameras will also be available to follow golfers around the course.

To get the best quality signals broadcasted from various positions across the course, there will be two, Six-foot long cranes, two cherry pickers and 26 buggies to enable crew mobility.

A total of 120 crew will be working behind the scenes to enable the production, which will be shared with top media channels such as Sky Sports, Golf Channel and SuperSport for airing live.

Top golf TV commentators, Tony Johnstone and Richard Kaufman, are expected back in the commentary box.

To give fans a lasting off-the-course experience, Kenya Open Golf Limited (KOGL) will this year also have the tournament village, which is sponsored by Kenya Breweries Limited through their Johnnie Walker brand.

Preparation work for the village is ongoing with KOGL planning to have a 2,300 square metre main dome; with the entire village being built up to 5000 square metres.

Top local entertainers are expected to take to the stage at the village from Friday through Sunday. To cater for the large number of fans expected at the event, 10 caterers have been engaged to offer a wide variety of cuisine.

In preparing for the course, the Karen Country Club’s green-keeping team has been working over the last six months to get the course in shape for the tournament.

Working alongside an agronomist from the European Tour, the team is now confident that the course is ready to host the tournament next week.

Different from last year’s event, this year the country has received good rains which have greatly improved the aesthetics of the course; and leaving it ready to host the Kenya Open.

Behind the scenes, more work is ongoing in readiness for next week’s event with the final touches as teams work in collaboration with the European Tour teams to ensure that everything runs smoothly at next week’s tournament.