Last year’s winner Ashun Wu is among the champions returning for this week’s 2023 Magical Kenya Open Championship slated for the Par-71 Muthaiga Golf Club course from Thursday to Sunday.
Ashun took the golfing world by surprise after emerging as the first Chinese golfer ever to win the iconic Kenya Open.
The crack Chinese pro fired 6 under par 65 to clinch victory at the Muthaiga Golf Club in front of a crowd graced by the presence of Kenya’s former President, Uhuru Kenyatta.
It will be interesting to see what’s up his Ashun’s sleeves this time around although prospects for the coveted title will be known when the 72-hole four-day stroke-play championship gets underway on Thursday.
Prior to teeing it up for the event proper, Ashun will be among those lined up for Wednesday’s Pro-Am at the same venue.
According to Vincent Wang’ombe, the chief executive officer at Kenya Golf Union and general manager of Kenya Open Golf Limited, there will be two Pro-Ams on Wednesday, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.”
Also back in the saddle is Italian professional golfer Lorenzo Gagli, who won the 2018 Barclays Kenya Open, his first win on the Challenge Tour and South African Justin Harding, who claimed the 2021 top prize at the Karen Country Golf Club.
Harding on his way up produced a composed display of golf artistry to ease to his second European Tour victory at the Karen course.
Gagli, on the other hand, had to face Swede pro-Jens Fahbring in a play-off after the two were tied on a 273 score of 11-under par after 18 holes.
It took three playoff rounds at Muthaiga’s 13th hole to separate the pair, with Jens Fahbring hitting his third tee shot inside the water hazard to hand Lorenzo Gagli the win.
Tournament director Patrick Obath remarked the unique nature of the Magical Kenya Open and the increase of prize money from US$1.5m to US$ 2m as the reason behind rising interest of foreign stars.
Meanwhile, Obath also expressed optimism that Kenyans will perform well in the event counting towards the DP World Tour, previously European Tour.
Kenya will be represented by eight pros selected from Safari Tour Order of Merit and six single-handicap Kenyan amateurs picked from the Kenya Amateur Golf Championship series. “Once our local pros make the cut from Safari Tour to the Kenya Open, they start working on their preparations,” quipped Obath, adding: “However, they need to have been working the whole year.”
“We have eight Kenyan pros playing in the Kenyan Open and hopefully, they have done their preparations to be able to make the Kenya Open cut this week. I am sure if you are looking at the scores we have been able to achieve this year during the Safari Tour, Kenyans are really ready for good action.
