144 players drawn for three-ball tee off at Muthaiga

A field of 144 players are drawn to tee off Thursday at the Magical Kenya Open presented by Absa after the draw for the first two rounds was published Wednesday.

The players will tee off in groups of three -- aptly referred to as a three-ball -- and they will keep to their groups through the first two rounds.

Players teeing off in the morning in Round One Thursday will drive for the greens in the afternoon in Round Two Friday and vice versa.

Kenya’s amateur golfer Taimur Malik is off first at 7.20am in the company of China’s Zheng-kai Bai and Ireland’s Paul Dunne on the first tee whilst the trio of Ben Evans, England, Hennie Du Plessis, South Africa and Ronald Rugumayo will get the ball rolling off the 10th tee at the same time.

Justus Madoya (Kenya), Matthieu Pavon (France) and Toto Thimba Jnr (South Africa) will tee off at 7.40am, whilst Zimbabwe’s Robinson Chinhoi is off at 7.50am in the company of Ashun Wu of China and Jaochim Hansen (Denmark).

The 2019 Magical Kenya Open champion, Italian Guido Migliozzi tees off at 8.10am in the company of Dean Burmester (South Africa) and Adri Arnaus (Spain).

The 2018 Magical Kenya Open champion, Lorenzo Gagli of Italy will tee off at 8.30am in the company of Aaron Cockerill (Canada) and Ashley Chesters (England).

For fans wishing to follow Kenyan players -- Nyali Golf Club’s Daniel Nduva is off at 12.20pm, Vipingo’s Adel Balala (amateur) follows at 12.30pm and Dismas Indiza is off at 12.40pm in the company of Daniel Van Tonder of South Africa.

Those flights will be off the first tee and will provide a lot of entertainment.

The defending champion, South Africa’s Justin Harding, will tee off at 1pm from the first tee in the company of India’s Shubhankar Sharma and Poland’s Adrian Meronk.