Magical Kenya Open: Why we must now ask all the hard questions
Chinese Ashun Wu kisses the title after he won the Magical Kenya Open on March 6, 2022 at the Muthaiga Golf Club.
What you need to know:
- In addition to the 1.75 million Euros (Sh219m) prize kitty this year, the sponsors have injected another Sh100m to Sh200m into the event in one form or another and this has been the case with Magical Kenya Open for many years now.
- Are we building a beautiful house on quick sand? Where are our golfing roots in Kenya? Where is the golf development agenda?
- Until these questions are answered, this picture will not change.
At the close of the 2022 Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship Sunday, hard questions must now be asked on the place of the event in light of the continued poor performance by the Kenyan professional and amateur golfers.
Kenya has had the privilege of hosting three DP World Tour events in the last two years – the Magical Kenya Open and the Kenya Savannah Classic in 2021 and the Magical Kenya Open 2022.
These three events have had a combined prize fund of 3.75 million Euros (Sh469.4m) of which only 0.0154 percent has been won by Kenyans.
Samuel Chege bagged 2,257 Euros (Sh282,257) at the 2021 Magical Kenya Open and David Wakhu bagged 3,510.45 Euros (Sh439,343) at the 2021 Kenya Savannah Classic and since no Kenyan professional made the cut at the 2022 event, the total prize winning for Kenyans is exactly ZERO shillings.
Chinese Ashun Wu celebrates with the title after he won the Magical Kenya Open on March 6, 2022 at the Muthaiga Golf Club.
Whilst Kenyan amateur Njoroge Kibugu made the cut this year, and a big congratulations to the young man, as an amateur he is not eligible for any prize money. Some of the more successful years for Kenyans at the event include 1998 when Jacob Okello finished second and won the equivalent of about one million shillings.
Okello finished T5 in 2006 and banked about Sh700,000 and he finished T4 in 2007 and banked about Sh800,000.
Okello has not made another cut at the event since then.
Simon Ngige finished T25 at the 2019 event whilst Justus Madoya was T72, they took home Sh1.2 million and Sh200,000 respectively.
Neither has a made a cut since.
President Uhuru Kenyatta (right) hands the title to Chinese Ashun Wu after he won the Magical Kenya Open on March 6, 2022 at the Muthaiga Golf Club.
Between 2001 to date, over 20 years, Dismas Indiza has made the cut in nine events and has banked a total of approximately Euros 16,000 (Sh2m) – about Sh100,000 per year average over those two decades.
Since the Kenya Open joined the European Challenge Tour in 1991 and later on the DP World Tour in 2019, Kenyan golfers have competed against the rest of the world for a total of 8.5 million Euros (Sh1.06 BILLION).
According the Challenge Tour and DP World Tour websites Kenyans have won Sh17m approximately or about 1.7 percent of the total prize money on offer.
Given these statistics, is it now time to rethink, how we do this? Should we be going back to the drawing board?
Chinese Ashun Wu follows his chip shot during the final round of the Magical Kenya Open on March 6, 2022 at Muthaiga Golf Club.
The 2022 Magical Kenya Open offers a total prize kitty of 1.75 million Euros and the top three winners will take home approximately Sh37.2m, Sh24m and Sh13.8m, respectively, a total of Sh75m – about four and a half times what Kenyans have won since 1991, a period of 31 years!
These figures ask hard questions of the various stakeholders in the golfing world in Kenya. The numbers don’t lie, they paint a sad picture on the golfing wall in Kenya.
Should we keep investing in this event?
What is the cost benefit analysis?
Chinese Ashun Wu (front) receives the Absa jacket from Absa Bank Kenya Managing Director Jeremy Awori after winning the Magical Kenya Open at Muthaiga Golf Club on March 6, 2022.
In addition to the 1.75 million Euros (Sh219m) prize kitty this year, the sponsors have injected another Sh100m to Sh200m into the event in one form or another and this has been the case with Magical Kenya Open for many years now.
Are we building a beautiful house on quick sand? Where are our golfing roots in Kenya? Where is the golf development agenda?
Until these questions are answered, this picture will not change.
Charles Gacheru is a golf and sports marketing consultant and Director at IMG Kenya Ltd.
