Pros lead charge at Nyali leg of Road to Karen
What you need to know:
- Also drawn, is Justus Madoya of the Great Rift Valley Golf Resort who also has a chance of showing his prowess having finished closer to the bottom of the money list in the Open despite having made the second round cut.
- At stake for the pros will be a Sh500,000 purse, where the winner will take home 17 percent of the total prize money.
The par 71 Nyali Golf and Country Club course on Mombasa’s mainland will this weekend host the second leg of the 2019 KCB Road to Karen Masters golf series.
The event is open to golfers from all the clubs in the Coast region and comes a month after the first leg held at Sigona Golf Club.
It has attracted a big field of 224 including for the first time local professionals as well as guests from various clubs in Nairobi.
The pros, who have been included in the five-event series to prepare for the KCB Karen Masters, a Sunshine Tour event, missed the first leg at Sigona as they were engaged in the Safari Tour series.
The pros will play two rounds with the first round set for Friday, where the top 15 players and ties will then join the amateurs in Saturday’s round which will serve as a Pro-Am event.
Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) captain John Wangai said the KCB series has started at the right time when the local pros have just participated in the 2019 Magical Kenya Open.
“As we prepared for the Kenya Open through the Safari Tour, the KCB Road to Karen Masters, is a great opportunity for us to further sharpen our skills well in time for the Karen event which being a Sunshine Tour event, is a door opener for us to be able to feature in subsequent Sunshine tour events,’’ he said.
At least 27 pros were drawn in Friday’s first round which gets under way at noon.
Leading the field will be long hitting Dismas Indiza, who missed the cut narrowly during the just concluded Magical Kenya Open at Karen Country Club.
Also in the starting list at Nyali this afternoon will be Muthaiga’s Greg Snow, who like Indiza, missed the cut at Karen by a shot.
Both Indiza and Snow as well as Royal Nairobi’s Eric Ooko, Windsor’s Riz Charania and Golf Park’s David Opati have now been given a chance to redeem themselves after their less than ideal performances during the Open.
Also drawn, is Justus Madoya of the Great Rift Valley Golf Resort who also has a chance of showing his prowess having finished closer to the bottom of the money list in the Open despite having made the second round cut.
At stake for the pros will be a Sh500,000 purse, where the winner will take home 17 percent of the total prize money.
Meanwhile, besides the take away prizes, some six slots will be at stake in the KCB Karen Masters pro-Am for the amateurs where home players particularly those in the middle and high handicap brackets stand a good chance this being a Stableford event.
Speaking on this weekend’s event, KCB Group Director of Marketing and Communications Angela Mwirigi said:
“We are redefining golfing in Kenya by increasingly giving more opportunities to amateur and professional golfers across the country.”
“We believe in growing sports talent for local and international competitions,” Mwirigi underscored.
