Thika Sports Club pro Simon Ngige follows his shot during the KCB Karen masters on July 20, 2018. PHOTO/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 14 – Nyali, Sigona, Thika, Nakuru and Royal golf clubs will host a qualifying Pro-Am competition for this year’s KCB Karen Masters to be held at the Karen Country Club on June 25-30.
The title sponsor KCB Injected Sh2 Million as prize money for the local pros – Sh500,000 for each of the four tournaments they will take part in.
While launching the series at the venue, Karen Country Club, KCB Group Director of Marketing and Communications Angela Mwirigi said:
KCB Group Director, Marketing & Communications, Angela Mwirigi, follows her tee, moments DURING the launch of 2019 KCB Road to the Masters.
“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.
“It’s our way of using golf to promote sports tourism and as a result catalyzing Kenya’s economic growth agenda. We appreciate the confidence the golfing fraternity has on our brand and we certainly see this as a long term partnership with mutual benefits both for the golfers in the region but for the Bank as well in terms of extending its reach across the country,” she added.
The Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) which has been tapped by KCB to coordinate the pros for the Road to the Masters said the players will miss out of one of the tournaments as they will be engaged in another national competition.
KCB Group Director, Marketing & Communications, Angela Mwirigi, speaks during the launch of 2019 KCB Road to the Masters. Also present is, the KCB Karen Masters Tournament Director, Andy Watt (left), PGK Chairman, Charan Thethy and Karen Country Club- Captain, Mike King’ori.
PGK Chairman Charan Thethy said that the prize money for the pros will be split 60/40 for each leg with 60% being prize money for the top 15 finishers and 40% will be set aside as a bonus amount for those who meet the set scores for the different courses.
Each of the 5 Legs will be used as amateur qualification round to play the Pro-Am event at the KCB Karen Masters where 6 winners will be selected from each leg, this means 30 amateurs stand a chance of participating at the prestigious international golfing event.
From each club, the qualifiers will be men winner, lady winner, guest winner, staff winner, junior winner and a wild card winner.
This year, the Bank has enhanced its sports sponsorship, reaffirming its confidence in the power of sports to influence lives positively with the sponsorship across disciplines being a strategic avenue to engage with communities and build talent across the East African region.
