NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 21 – Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero has promised Sh1m ($10, 000) to a Kenyan who will write history as the first ever to win the Barclays Kenya Open that sees the 49th edition tee-off on Wednesday at the Muthaiga Golf Club.
The Governor who was playing the Pro Am on Tuesday made commitment to award local professional players that will also see Sh500,000 ( $5, 000) awarded to a Kenyan who will finishes between positions 2-5 while Sh100,000 ($1000) will go to a local player who will be placed between positions 5-10.
Any Kenyan who makes the cut will get Sh50, 000 ($500).
The field of 156 golfers includes 22 local professionals, 6 elite Kenyan amateur golfers and over 100 professional golfers from the European Challenge Tour.
Thika’s Simon Ngige was the first to tee-off at 7am in the company of Italy’s Federico Maccario and England’s Peter Tarver-Jones.
Nyali’s golf club junior protégé Agil Is Haq teed off at 7:20am and he is expected to draw a big crowd as he battles the elements at the Muthaiga Golf Club.
The Muthaiga resident golf professional, Nelson Mudanyi were off at 7:30am followed by Brian Njoroge at 7:40am while on form Greg Snow teed off at 8am in the company of Northern Ireland’s Cormac Sharvin and England’s Paul Maddy.
Snow finished top at the Jamii Telkom PGK Masters at the Sigona Golf Club and he was the best placed Kenyan at the recently concluded Karen Masters where he finished fourth.
Snow has played the Muthaiga course for nearly two decades and is expected to play well.
-Wennstam/Ngera win Kenya open Pro Am-
Meanwhile, Alexander Wenstam and Anthony Ngera emerged victorious at the Kenya Open Pro Am held at the Muithaiga Golf Club on Tuesday.
The pair combination of Swedish professional golfer Wenstam and local amateur Ngera returned a score of 45 points, after playing rounds of 24 and 17 to claim the top prize.
It was a good outing for Ngera who managed to roll in one birdie and four pars as his pro played an impressive 4 birdies and an eagle.
The pair finished ahead of the pairings of Scott Fernandez/Moses Matsiko, Mark Williams/Tom Macakiage and former Kenya open champion Jake Roos/Sam Kairu who all scored a 45.
Wennstam walked away with Sh50, 000 (€450), while Ngera took home a beautiful prize courtesy of the Muthaiga Golf Club.
“The course is in an excellent condition and it was real nice playing here, the exposure I got from playing with the pros has taught me a lot, winning this was always going to be a bonus.” said Ngera.
This was a unique Pro Am as the Kenyan Open Golf Limited hosted it seeing a field of pros and amateurs
It was another blistering hot day on the course as the sun took no prisoners with some even using their umbrellas for shade on the course.
Paul from England said, “I doubt the winning score will be below -10 par because the ball runs so far that the game will be hard to read.”