NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 24 – Vipingo Ridge member Jacquelyne Walter is the latest inclusion to the list of players who will represent the country in the forthcoming Magical Kenya Ladies Open slated for February 2-5.
Jacquelyne plays and works at Vipingo Ridge will be making her debut in the event which returns to her home course for the third time.
She will join the initial Kenyan quartet which comprises Naomi Wafula, Mercy Nyanchama, Chanelle Wangari (VetLab) and Nancy Wairimu.
The Vipingo player filled the last (11th ) invitee space in a category which has also attracted the likes of Sanna Nuutinen from Helsinki, Finland, Aditi Ashok from Bangalore, India, Florentyna Parker from England), Karolin Lampert (Golf Club St. Leon-Rot, Germany) and Pasqualle Coffa (Bernardus Golf).
All the 96 slots for the Ladies European Tour (LET) season-opening event have been filled up with several others being placed on a waiting list just in case.
–Stars to watch–
Some of the players to watch at this year’s event are Johanna Gustavsson of Lannalodge Golf Resort in Sweden, Tiia Koivisto of Finland and Belgium’s Manon De Roey.
Gustavsson, in her early golfing years, worked in nursery daycare during the winter to subsidise her play.
De Roey, on the other hand, joined the Ladies European Tour (LET) in 2016 but failed to make an impact and dropped down to the LET Access Series for the 2017 season, where she had three top-10 finishes including a T3 at the Swedish PGA Championship and finished 6th on the Order of Merit.
In 2019, she played in 14 LET tournaments and recorded four top-10 finishes, ending 23rd on the Order of Merit.
She also played on the LET Access Series where she won two tournaments, including successfully defending her title at the WPGA International Challenge, and finished best woman and third overall in the St Malo Golf Mixed Open.
The Magical Kenya Ladies Open will have a prize fund of €300,000 and will be the first in a series of 39 events on the 2023 Ladies European Tour calendar – the most fixtures ever held on the Tour.
MKLO-INVITEE STACES
1. Sanna Nuutinen (Helsinki, Finland)
2. Aditi Ashok (Bangalore, India)
3. Florentyna Parker (England)
4. Karolin Lampert (Golf Club St. Leon-Rot, Germany)
5. Pasqualle Coffa (Bernardus Golf)
6. Naomi Wafula (a) (Kenya)
7. Mercy Nyanchama (a) (Kenya)
8. Chanelle Wangari (a) (VetLab Golf Course, Kenya)
9. Nancy Wairimu (a) (Kenya)
10. Avani Prashanth (a) (India)
11. Jacquelyne Walter (Vipingo Ridge, Kenya)
