ABSA pump Sh56 million into Magical Kenya Open

ABSA Bank are the presenting sponsors of this year’s Magical Kenya Open scheduled for March 3 to 6 at the par 71 Muthaiga Golf Club course.

One of the biggest supporters of sports development in the country, ABSA Friday presented a cheque of Sh56 million, to join the Government of Kenya as the event’s top sponsors.

Speaking at Muthaiga Golf Club on Friday before presenting the cheque as part of its contribution for this year’s tournament, ABSA managing director Jeremy Awori paid great tribute to the Kenya Open Golf Limited for its continued effort to make sure that the event grows from strength to strength.

“You not only have been able to sustain the event, but you have put extra effort to grow the Open to the level which it has reached. For us the Open brings a great opportunity because of the fact that it is now watched by over 500 million people because of the fact that, it is now part of DP World Tour series,’’ said Awori.

He said ABSA will continue supporting various sports activities in the country because that goes hand-in-hand with its policy.

“As a brand we will continue playing a leading role in support of the Open, and for this reason, we have set aside Sh56 million as part of contribution for this year’s tournament. We will also support our local players because some of them are coming from outside Nairobi, and within a few days time, we will make some announcement on that aspect,’’ added Awori.

Kenya Open Golf Limited tournament director Patrick Obath who represented the KOGL chairman Peter Kanyago, thanked ABSA for having remained a key partner of the Open for more than a decade now. “ABSA came in with cash to support the government when the event became part of the European Tour now known as the DP World Tour,’’ said Obath.

He said this year’s event whose entries closed on Thursday had attracted a big number of professionals including South Africa’s Justin Harding who won last year's event at Karen Country Club, while others include Italian Guido Migliozzi who clinched his first European title with the Magical Kenya Open in 2019 at Karen Country Club.

Others in the Muthaiga line-up in March will be South Africa’s Dean Burmester, Sebastian Soderberg of Sweden and Span’s Jorge Campillo all of whom have been playing well in the tour. At the same time, Obath said KOGL had invited South Africa’s Toto Thimba who won the Karen Masters a couple of years ago, and another South African Jayden Schaper.

Also invited is Uganda’s Ronald Rugumayo as well as South Africa-based Daniel Nduva who came second in this week’s Safari Tour eighth leg at Muthaiga Golf Club.

“We decided to offer wildcards to Rugumayo and Nduva because of their recent performance in the Safari Tour, while Toto Thimba’s invitation goes back to when he won the Karen Masters,’’ said Obath.

This means Kenya will have nine professionals and six amateurs, and three regional players who besides Rugumayo are Robson Chinhoi of Zimbabwe and Malawi’s Paul Chidale who qualified from the Safari Tour.