Christy O'Connor Jnr.
Niall Kearney and Gary Murphy are the two Irish entries for the next round of The Challenge Tour next week at the Barclay's Kenya Open in Nairobi which has a strong link to Irish golf ever since the event was first played on the European Challenge Tour in 1990, when it was won by Christy O’Connor Jnr.
Before the more recent era it was won by Eamonn Darcy in 1982.
It's future was further strengthened this week when Kenya Airways reaffirmed its commitment to the development of sport in Kenya by announcing its partnership with Kenya Open Golf Limited (KOGL) as the Official Airline of the Barclays Kenya Open, which will celebrate its 43rd edition next week.
As the Official Airline, Kenya Airways will fly the European Challenge Tour’s officials to the capital city of Nairobi, and have also offered discounted rates to the 156 international and home-grown players who will tee up at the magnificent Muthaiga Golf Club.
Ms Nita Nagi, Area Manager of Kenya Airways, said that the airline had agreed the sponsorship deal in order to support the event, which was won last year by Englishman Robert Dinwiddie and which is key to promoting golf tourism in Kenya.
In addition to its sponsorship of the tournament, Kenya Airways will also arrange for the winners from all the countries which participated in Africa’s KQ Golf Safari series to play in the Barclays Kenya Open Pro-Am, held next Wednesday.
The KQ Golf Safari Series, which has been played in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon, Senegal, Ethiopia, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Malawi, concludes with this Saturday’s Grand Finale, played at Muthaiga Golf Club and featuring 200 players drawn from across Africa.
This year will be the 20th time the Barclays Kenya Open has been played on the Challenge Tour Schedule. Only the Rolex Trophy, played 22 times, has featured more often on the Schedule.
Facts and Figures
• The event was first played in 1967, when it was held at Muthaiga Golf Club and won by Gary Wolstenholme, now a Senior Tour Member.
A rich history of former winners includes three Major Champions: Spain’s Seve Ballesteros (1978), Wales’ Ian Woosnam (1986) and South African Trevor Immelman (2000). Ten Ryder Cup players have also won the event – they are: Maurice Bembridge (winner from 1968-69, and 1979); Seve Ballesteros (1978); Brian Waites (1980); Brian Barnes (1981); Eamonn Darcy (1982); Ken Brown (1983); José Maria Cañizares; Ian Woosnam (1986); Christy O’Connor Jnr (1990); and Edoardo Molinari (2007).
• When Robert Dinwiddie won last year’s event en route to finishing in eighth place in the final Challenge Tour Rankings, he became the tenth winner of the event since 1998 to graduate to The European Tour at the end of the season. The other nine are: Ricardo Gonzalez (1998); Maarten Lafeber (1999); Trevor Immelman (2000); Lee James (2002); Marc Cayeux (2004); Daniel Vancsik (20050; Johan Axgren (2006); Edoardo Moliani (2007); and Gary Boyd (2009).
• Joaquin Estevez, who won the season-opening Abierto Internacional Cope Antioquia will be bidding to become the first player to win back-to-back events since Iain Pyman achieved the feat in 2007. He is also hoping to become the fourth Argentine winner of the event, after Jorge Berendt (1997), Ricardo Gonzalez (1998) and Daniel Vancsik (2005).
