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After that sensational finish in last year’s Kenya Open at Muthaiga Golf Club, defending champion Italy’s Lorenzo Gagli is back in the country to launch his 2019 European Tour campaign, with the Magical Kenya Open at the now par 71 Karen Country Club course where the first round gets under way at 7.20am on Thursday.
Gagli, who is among a field of 144 players who will be chasing the top prize of Sh20.5 million plus some points towards the “Race to Dubai’’ series, says he is excited to be back to defend his title under the European Tour.
“Last year was very exciting particularly at the prize giving ceremony with the President of Kenya being present. It was fun and I am really excited to come back here. I love Kenya and Africa,” said Gagli. During last year’s Open, Gagli shot 11 under par 273 to tie with Sweden’s Jens Fahrbring who he defeated in a play-off to claim the top prize.
That victory and his subsequent performance saw him finish in 13th place in the Challenge Tour series, to earn his place in this year’s European Tour’s Race to Dubai. But just like last year, the Italian is likely to face a strong challenge from some of the regular players in the Tour plus the ones they graduated with from the Challenge Tour.
Some of the players Gagli is going to battle it out with will be Justin Harding – who leads a strong South African challenge in this year’s Open, all of them current members of the European Tour.
During last weekend’s Commercial Bank of Qatar Masters at the par 72 Doha Golf Club, Harding from Stellenbosch in South Africa, produced a perfect six under par 66 to finish on 13 under par 275 for his maiden victory. Behind him was a bunch of nine players breathing fire on 11 under par.
One of them was Harding’s compatriot Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who is not fairly new here, having played in the challenge Tour along with players like Gagli. George Coetzee, Erik van Rooyen also from South Africa as well as England’s Oliver Wilson are among those who tied on 11 under at Doha and who are in Thursday’s starting list at Karen.
Also hunting for some points is Frenchman Adrien Saddier, Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey, Spain’s Jorge Campilo and Korea’s Jinho Choi. Whilst Gagli will be hunting for a back-to-back win, there are also other past winners of the Open who will be more than happy to try their luck once again.
One of them is Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg who shot seven under par in Qatar to tie for 20th place, while also making a comeback to the Kenya Open is South Africa’s Hayden Porteous who says he is ready to have another go at the title which is being played under the European Tour for the first time in its 51-year history.
Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, who was last here 24 years ago, is back to try and accomplish what he failed to do in 1995 then a 24-year-old. “It’s great to back here and play in the Open in its new status. The course here unlike where we have been playing, is different with small greens but we will play as it is,” said the 48-year-old Bjron.
Meanwhile, Muthaiga’s Greg Snow – who dominated the Safari Tour – leads the local challenge that includes six amateurs. Snow shot impressive scores during particularly at his home course of Muthaiga, giving Kenyans some hope of a good finish in the Open if he can keep his cool.
The local squad also includes the experienced Dismas Indiza who seems to enjoy the Karen course. His best performances in the Open came when the the event was held there. He will be out to beat his top five finish.
Rizwan Charania, John Wangai, David Wakhu, Justus Madoya and Erick Ooko have all been playing solid golf in the Safari Tour though they are facing a different challenge all together.
Leading the six amateurs will be South Africa-based Daniel Nduva who is also Kenya’s Amateur Match Play champion and who is out to improve on last year’s performance.
His main challenger for the amateur title will be Samuel Njoroge who won last year’s Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) series and a couple of titles already this season.
The Karen course though playing slightly short, has however been prepared well with the greens expected to be quicker than usual. But besides the four days of golf, a lot will be at stake for those who will not be too keen on watching the players, the two Open villages will be hosting lots of social activities particularly during the weekend.
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