- Event: 2017 Kenya Golf Open Championship
- Date: 23rd – 26th March, 2017
- Venue: Muthaiga Golf Course
The 22 Kenya-based professionals who will play at the 2017 Kenya Open Golf Championship are now known.
This followed the third and final leg of the ‘Race to 2017 Kenya Pro-golf Series’ held at the par 71 Muthaiga Golf Club.
Home player Greg Snow was superb in the final leg of the series. He sunk 2 birdies on the final day and emerged the overall winner of the three series on a total of 105.5 points.
The other legs of the series were held at Sigona and Vet Lab.
In the Sigona qualifier, Snow picked 32 points, before securing 37.5 points at Vet Lab and his feat at Muthaiga earned him a further 36 points.
Vet Lab’s Mathew Omondi is second in the series on 97 points, while Golf Park’s Jacob Okello is third on 95.5 points and David Wakhu of Royal Nairobi Golf Club is fourth on 93 points.
According to Okello who is also the Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) chairman, the top 18 in the series automatically qualify for the Open to be staged at Muthaiga Golf Course from March 23-26, 2017.
The four players who made the cut at last year’s Open, Dismas Indiza, Brian Njoroge, Simon Ngige and Stefan Andersen have wild cards and complete the slot of 22 professionals awarded to Kenya pros by the tournament organizers.
However, the tie of 18th placed Richard Ainley and Anil Shah is likely to give PGK a headache on maintaining the required 22 as the number is now at 23.
Ainley and Anil both amassed 71.5 points after the three qualifying series.
He told Kenya Golf Guide that one more slot will be requested to accommodate the tied professionals.
“We are having a meeting with Kenya Open Golf Limited officials next week to request for one more slot so that we can accommodate the two tied pros. We will then release the final list of professionals to feature in the Open,” said Okello.
Series performance:
Greg Snow 105.5
Mathew Omondi 97
Jacob Okello 95.5
David Wakhu 93
C.J. Wangai 91
M. Ngugi 89.5
David Odhiambo 88.5
Nicholas Rokoine 87
Justus Madoyo 86
Kopan Timbe 86
Boniface Simwa 85
Nelson Simwa 83
Riz Charania 79
David Opati 76.5
Nelson Mudanyi 76
W. Karanja 73.5
Tony Omuli 72.5
Anil Shah 71.5
Richard Ainley 71.5