TEAM KENYA BEEF UP

Vipingo's Walter joins local amateur list at Kenya Ladies Open

The Vipingo player filled the last (11th) invitee space

In Summary

• 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.

•Some of the players to watch at this year’s event are Johanna Gustavsson of  Sweden, Tiia Koivisto(Finland) and Belgium’s Manon De Roey.  Gustavsson, in her early golfing years, worked in a nursery daycare during the winter to subsidize her pay. 

Belgium’s Manon De Roey during a past event
Belgium’s Manon De Roey during a past event
Image: HANDOUT

Vipingo Ridge member Jacquelyne Walter is the latest inclusion to the list of players who will represent the country in the February 2-5 Magical Kenya Ladies Open 

Walter plays and works at Vipingo Ridge and 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 comprising Naomi Wafula, Mercy Nyanchama, Chanelle Wangari (VetLab) and Nancy Wairimu.

The Vipingo player filled the last (11th) invitee space in a category that has also attracted the likes of Sanna Nuutinen (Finland), Aditi Ashok (India), Florentyna Parker (England), Karolin Lampert  (Germany) and Pasqualle Coffa  (Netherlands).

 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.

Some of the players to watch at this year’s event are Johanna Gustavsson of  Sweden, Tiia Koivisto(Finland) and Belgium’s Manon De Roey.  Gustavssonin her early golfing years, worked in a nursery daycare during the winter to subsidize her pay. 

De Roey, on the other hand,  joined the Ladies European Tour 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 sixth on the Order of Merit. 

In 2019, she played in 14 LET tournaments and recorded four top-10 finishes, placing 23rd on the Order of Merit. 

She also played in 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.