Attn: SPORTS EDITORS
PRESS RELEASE
THE MAGICAL KENYA OPEN 2022
The 2022 edition of the annual Magical Kenya Open golf tournament is back at Muthaiga Golf Club where it was born 55 years ago. The tournament officially kicked off today with the Pro-Am event, a curtain-raiser that allows players to test the challenging par 71 courses.
The Magical Kenya Open has a history dating back to 1967 and appeared on the European Tour’s schedule for the first time in 2019, having previously taken its place on the Challenge Tour schedule since 1991.
The event offers a chance to the local amateurs from the various corporates that are sponsoring this year’s Magical Kenya Open. This tournament is being staged for the third year as part of the DP World Tour series formerly the European Tour.
The Open is also coming back to its original home for the first time since 2018. This year’s Pro-Am attracted a field of 205 players including 52 pros who were partnered with three amateurs.
Five players who qualified from the local Safari Golf Tour, namely Mohit Mediratta, Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi, Dismas Indiza, and Greg Snow were in action during the pro-am. The list of the visiting players includes
Magical Kenya Open defending champion Justin Harding from South Africa is also among the leading professionals that will contest for this year’s title.
Muthaiga Golf Course has been well prepared for this year’s Open and I can confirm it is in great condition and ready for the main event on Thursday where a field of 144 will be battling it out. We have six local amateurs led by Kenya’s leading amateur Adel Balala.
The preparations for this year’s Magical Kenya Open are in top gear and I would like to commend the Kenya Open Golf Limited for maintaining international standards in organizing this event. I am extremely proud that as a country, we can hold a sporting event that meets international standards.
I pass my appreciation to the Government of Kenya under the leadership of H.E the President Hon. Uhuru Kenya for the immense support offered to the Ministry of Sports and the golf industry in the country.
The Ministry in collaboration with KENHA commissioned the construction of a golf course access bridge for the players and media team, which allows us to comply with DP world tour COVID protocols for the events.
The Government through the Sports Arts and Social Development Fund in conjunction with the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage fully funded this event and provided the prize fund for the event with a prize purse of $ 2 million. This illustrates the Government of Kenya’s commitment towards staging Kenya as a sporting destination.
With live global broadcast coverage across four days, the Magical Kenya Open is a great opportunity to promote Kenya as a golf destination to the world and support Kenyan golf.
The event will be produced for live TV coverage across four days with the world feed being distributed all over the world.
By government regulations on the Covid-19 pandemic, the event shall be held in strict adherence to health and safety protocols. While we are having an event with spectators this year, we have ensured that we have put in place adequate measures to protect the health of everyone who will be involved in the event. All government protocols with regards to the Covid-19 pandemic will be fully implemented throughout the tournament.
We can confidently say that we are all set and ready for the main event starting tomorrow. We look forward to welcoming the spectators and our esteemed partners to experience the magic of the game of golf at the “home of golf.