Over Sh33m will be up for grabs at next month’s Magical Kenya Ladies Open at the PGA Baobab Course at Vipingo Ridge.
The event, a European Tour tournament sponsored by Magical Kenya and Safaricom’s M-Pesa, will see the overall winner take home Sh5m.
“This is the first time a Ladies European Tour event being held in Kenya and we are delighted that we have received the necessary support to enable us host this event and offer a globally acceptable and attractive prize purse,” said event promoter U.COM’s Dirk Glittenberg. “Professional golfers choose which tournaments to play in based on a variety of factors — course condition, hospitality, convenience of getting to the venue, overall experience expected and naturally, the prize purse plays a big part in that decision-making process.”
The Sh33m prize positions the event as one of the richest on the Ladies European Tour. The Investec South Africa Women’s Open, played in Cape Town, offers a prize of Sh13.6m and the Lalla Meryem Cup, played at the Royal Dar Es Salam Blue Course in Morocco, offers a prize of Sh50.5m. The prize purse at the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi is Sh30.5m and at the Jordan Mixed Open, it is Sh39.9m.
“There are 17 events on the Ladies European Tour calendar, excluding the Majors, eight of those offer a smaller prize purse than the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, four offer more and another four offer the same,” Glittenberg added. “We, however, understand that these professional golfers will also be driven to this beautiful country by factors over and above the prize purse and we know they will have a great time in Kenya. They can visit the beautiful beaches and game parks, enjoy the coastal cuisine and take away with them an experience of a lifetime.”
The Magical Kenya Ladies Open takes place between December 5 and 8.
