Organizers of the Kenya Open Golf Championship have announced key changes as Kenya prepare to make its debut on the European Tour at the Karen Country Club in March.
This follows a thorough course inspection by European Tour officials at the Karen Country Club yesterday. Speaking about the changes, Kenya Open Golf Championship director, Patrick Obath, said the Karen Country Club course layout will be re-arranged to accommodate the demands of the tournament from both the players and spectators’ perspective.
The essence, he added, is to allow more room for spectators’ movement “as well as the sitting infrastructure that is going to be set up”.
What this means is that the current 13th hole will be the first tee. Players will then play the 14th through the 18th holes, and then go back to the 10th, 11th and the 12th for the first nine.
“They will then cross over to the first tee and play it the normal way. This means that the first nine will effectively become the back nine and vice versa,” Obath said during a site tour of the Par 72 course. Other changes set to be made for this year’s Kenya Open include human flow improvement, with players and spectators having to go through the village before accessing the rest of the club.
“We have done quite a lot of work to prepare for this year’s tournament, including having the European Tour agronomist coming over to ensure that the course is at par with European Tour standards. We are therefore confident we are ready to hold the tournament,” he added.
Commenting on the same, European Tour tournament director, Paul Carrigill, said he is satisfied with the preparations that the KOGL has embarked on in preparation for this year’s tournament.
“The KOGL has improved the tournament over the last five or six years and now we have raised our level to the main European Tour— meaning we will have better players playing. We have had a change of venue this year coming to the Karen Country Club and the course is in wonderful condition already, so everything is progressing well,” he said.