The inaugural season of the Sunshine Development tour, East Africa Swing, will tee off at the Thika Greens Golf Resort from June 3 to 6.
The event will then move to the Ruiru Sports Club from June 9-11. The back-to-back events have attracted professional and elite amateur golfers from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi.
The golfers will play over 54 holes for a share of the Sh2 million prize purse.
This will be the first opportunity for the players who participated in the Q-School event in April at the Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort to earn Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points on the East Africa Swing.
The two events are expected to attract a mixed field of over 80 golfers across the region and 15 invited players from South Africa's Big Easy Tour. They will feature a cut after 36 holes to determine the field for the final round.
The Thika Greens and Ruiru events will serve as the 2025/2026 season-opener events for what is scheduled to be a 15-event season across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda, culminating in February next year.
The East Africa Swing tour promoter, Charles Gacheru, said: “We are pleased to announce the start of the 2025/2026 season of the Sunshine Development Tour – East Africa Swing with back-to-back events at Thika Greens and Ruiru this coming month.”
“It will be the first opportunity for the players who participated in the Qualifying School, as well as guest players whom we will consider on a case-by-case basis, to earn Official World Gold Ranking points, earn prize money, and to get some valuable experience whilst honing their skills. We look forward to a great three days of golf from the elite field,” he noted.
“We are looking to host around 15 events across the region, and between now and the grand finale in February 2026, we will unveil the calendar once conversations with our partners are concluded.”
The Sunshine Tour, one of the premier professional golf tours globally, officially expanded its footprint into Kenya and the East African region with the introduction of the Sunshine Development Tour – East Africa Swing in March. This series provides a pathway for professional golfers and elite amateurs to compete in regular, high-calibre tournaments aligned with Sunshine Tour standards.
The tour teed off with a qualifying event (Q-School) held from March 31st to April 3rd, 2025, at the Great Rift Valley Lodge & Golf Resort in Naivasha, where Rwandese golfer Celestin Nsanzuwera emerged as the winner of the event, which featured a KSh1 million prize purse.
The top ten players from the event also earned coveted slots to compete in the Sunshine Tour Final Stage Qualifier, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from April 8th to 11th, 2025; where Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club's Njoroge Kibugu was Kenya’s best finisher in a tie for 40th after making the Cut to play in the final round.
In addition, all participants at the Q-School event received playing cards for the East Africa Swing events. These events not only offer Sunshine Development Tour points but also Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points, providing local and regional players with increased opportunities to rise through the global golfing ranks.
