Waiting in vain for a Kenyan to win the Kenya Open

Kenya were once the minnows of international sevens rugby. We used to get crushed heavily by the established nations, the likes of New Zealand, Fiji, England in the late 1990s. It was painful to watch.

I can still vividly remember the 71-0 hammering we received at the hands of Fiji in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.

But the Kenyan team grew and learnt, the game grew and grew, and by the end of the new decade Kenya had established itself as one of the powerhouses of the abbreviated game, producing world stars the likes of Collins Injera, Humphrey Kayange and Andrew Amonde.

For good measure, Kenya even won a leg of the series, beating Fiji in the Singapore final of 2016 to tumultuous celebration from a captivated rugby fraternity at home and appreciative nation.

We have never been a football giant even though almost every partisan Kenyan fan of the game dreams of that, believing deep in their hearts that Harambee Stars will one day play at the Fifa World Cup, and Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards will win the African championship.

The country though has intermittently flirted with glory and also produced genuine world class players. Mike Okoth, Musa Otieno, Macdonald Mariga, Victor Wanyama, Dennis Oliech, Michael Olunga come to mind in the modern, professional era.

If you look at basketball, hockey, cricket (until recently) just to pick on the bigger sports, Kenya has managed to produce big name players who have gone on to excel at the highest levels of the game.

What of our game of golf?

From the time I started following the Kenya Open, easily the biggest golf tournament in this part of Africa, in the early 2000s, talk has always been of how hosting the tournament would help grow the game in the country and help produce genuine home grown, top rate golfers.

From where I sit, admittedly neither at a vantage point, nor with an insider view, I can say that the game has indeed grown, but in the model that will never see Kenya produce a Kenya Open winner or world-class professional player for that matter.

I know this view will not go down kindly with the establishment, but it is what it is.

Since the inaugural tournament in 1967, no Kenyan has ever won the Kenya Open.

The closest a home player ever came to the desired conquest was 1998 when Jacob Okello lost in a play-off for the title to Argentinian Ricardo Gonzales. The whole nation groaned in disappointment.

Well, Mombasa-born Aaron Rai, won the 2017 title, but he is more British than a native of their former colony.

The owners of golf in Kenya would be very happy seeing the country hosting more European Tour events. It gives the nation good publicity and draws the world’s attention to the game in Kenya.

In fact, a lot of effort has been made to market the country as the ideal destination for a golf tour for the foreign visitor so inclined, or business traveler needing some playtime in pristine tropical surroundings.

According to bkenya.com “Kenya has 40 golf courses in total, 10 of which are used for first class championship events. There is plenty of choice and stunning variety; some courses are set on the shores of the Indian Ocean whilst others sit in the shadow of Mount Kenya.”

Little wonder, last November, Kenya was named Africa’s leading golfing destination at the seventh Annual World Golf Awards Gala Ceremony held in the United Arab Emirates.

But I bet these golf clubs would be averse to opening up their courses and facilities to any Tom, Dick and Harry.

This Charles was once chased like a stray dog from the Muthaiga Golf Club clubhouse where he had innocently ventured in search of a player interview during one of the Tusker Kenya Open last decade. 

Can you imagine a club like Karen, Muthaiga, Royal, just to name a few, allowing school kids, or talented neighbourhood youngsters to regularly train on their courses? Even better reverie, the kids getting coaching and other golfing tips from trainers sourced by these clubs. I do not think so.

And that is why, years since the Kenya Open became part of the Challenge Tour in 1991 and European Tour in 2019 we are still waiting in vain for a Kenyan talent to win the event, and go on to shake-up the world pro order.

Other sports have tremendously expanded their net to identify talent far and wide, and at a young age. For obvious reasons, golf has kept its net rather narrow, preferring the game to be for the chosen few.

Think about it. Many Kenyan golfers start playing the game well into their adulthood and are mostly part-time amateurs, swinging on the corporate scene with an eye on the ball and that business deal.

Many of our top pros of the last two decades started playing the game accidentally, mainly hustling as caddies and then somehow learning the art of the club, the swing and the ball.

If you are keen you will notice how differently they play the game compared to the top foreign pros, who are so deliberate, methodological and calculating, not to mention technically adept. A level that can only be attained after many, many years of schooling in the game.

Unlike other sports that encourage mass participation from a tender ages, Kenyan golf prefers the older, economically endowed person who can patronize the club, enjoying a round of the game while paying for that privilege and prestige.

If the Kenya Open helps in that objective, the better. Golf in Kenya likes it, just like that.

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