• Germany’s Esther Henseleit remains the player to watch as she seeks to relive her triumphs at the course, where she won the title in 2019 and 2022.
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The Ladies European Tour is here with us again as the Magical Kenya Ladies Open tee off at the Baobab Course at Vipingo Ridge on Thursday morning.
This will be the third time that the Tour will visit Kilifi County, with 96 players teeing up in the first tournament of the ‘Race to Costa del Sol’.
Vipingo offers a few sights and sounds that the players are not used to as zebras and giraffes stroll onto the 10th and 18th fairway to have a midday snack.
Germany’s Esther Henseleit remains the player to watch as she seeks to relive her triumphs at the course, where she won the title in 2019 and 2022.
The 24-year-old finished 44th in the 2022 Race to Costa del Sol.
Another player to watch is Sara Kouskova, who in the last summer turned professional after finishing college and played on the LET Access Series for the 2022 season.
The Czech golfer won both the Order of Merit and Rookie of the Year titles after tallying 2,592.18 points from 10 events in 2022.
The 23-year-old qualified for the LET back in 2021 December while still an amateur but decided to finish her college career instead. One year later and Kouskova is now preparing for her rookie season on the LET.
After a successful Qualifying School at La Manga Club in Spain in December, there are a host of rookie LET members ready for their first event since securing status. There will be a total of 23 rookies teeing it up at Vipingo this week. Some will be making their debut on the LET.
Belgian Manon De Roey is another who hopes to perform well in Kenya following a successful 2022 season on the LET, where she secured her maiden win at the Aramco Team Series — Bangkok. She ended the year fourth in the 2022 Race to Costa del Sol.
This secured her a status on the LPGA Tour by finishing T28 at the Q-Series and will be managing her schedule for 2023. De Roey will play on both Tours and her confidence is high as she tees it up at Vipingo Ridge.
Kenya will be represented by five players among them Naomi Wafula, Channelle Wangari, Mercy Nyanchama, Jacqueline Walter and Nancy Wairimu.
Nyanchama, Walter and Wairimu will all tee off between 12:58pm and 1:42pm off the tenth. Botswana’s Nobuhle Dlamini, the only other African in the field, will also be teeing off within this time band, on the tenth.
Two-time winner Henseleit will have Johanna Gustavsson of Sweden and Christine Wolf of Austria for company as she gets her campaign at 1:20PM.
ia Babnik of Slovenia, who is the highest-ranked player in the field, will get her round underway at 9:06am, from the tenth tee, in the company of Sanna Nuutinen (Finland) and Sophie Witt (Germany).