By OUR CORRESPONDENT
The inaugural Sunshine Development Tour – East Africa Swing which teed off yesterday, with a Qualifying School (Q-School) tournament at the Great Rift Valley Golf Resort in Naivasha, Kenya has been lauded as a game changer in the region’s golf landscape.
The four-day Q-School tournament has attracted a field of 70 professionals, made up of 36 Professionals and 34 amateurs drawn from the East African region, 50 of whom will get presented with the East Africa Swing playing cards at the end of round two action, opening playing opportunities in the prestigious Sunshine Tour.
While action on the picturesque par-71 Great Rift Valley course heats up as the players look to make the CUT, most are looking beyond this monumental occasion and what it means to the sport of golf in Kenya and the region.
Speaking after round one action, Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) Chairman, CJ Wangai said, “This tour gives us the opportunity to compete and retain tournament mode throughout the year. At a later stage we will play in the Kenya Open, against players who are always on tournament mode.”
“As we play more tournaments, we practise more, we keep improving through the practice and competition cycle, and the ripple effect is you’ll see the scores getting better, over time.” He added.
Talking about the development tour, Courtney De Barros from the Sunshine Tour, said, “We’ve taken a very popular model where you’ve got a feeder tour that, promotes people through into a bigger main tour, which has resulted in golf development in South Africa.”
“We’re taking that exact same model and bringing it here to East Africa so that we can have an opportunity for more local people here to find themselves onto the Sunshine Tour and making use of our global pathway.” She added.
Commenting on the Tour, IMG Kenya’s Charles Gacheru said:
“We’ve had one of the biggest tournaments in the continent, the Kenya Open run for over 50 years and whilst we’ve had that beautiful premium event, we have had nothing beneath it, nothing to get our pros playing, nothing to get our juniors aspiring to something.
“This Sunshine Development Tour, East Africa Swing aims to bridge the gap between what we have as a premium event, as a Kenya Open and the professionals playing for nothing all year.
“We want to focus on East Africa, to give not only our professionals, but also our elite amateurs and the juniors coming through an opportunity to participate, to play, to earn some money, to learn something new. Over and above the prize money, over and above the ability to compete, they are the pathways to the world.”
“This is the first to first professional to in East Africa that will give Official World Golf Ranking points.” He added.
Kenya’s elite amateur Michael Karanga who is one of the favourites in the tournament, lauded the tour as a pathway to turn professional, “This is a great move for Kenyan and the region’s golf scene, especially for amateurs, we finally have a pathway to turn professional.”
“When you have a tour card, you will be playing week in week out, against the best in the Sunshine Tour, hopefully I can qualify and get the tour card, and declare myself a pro.” He added.
Tanzania’s Isaac Wanyenche speaking after round one action, “We get the opportunity to play against great players from around the region, hence we have to prepare well to face such fields.”
The Q-School tournament will culminate in the awarding of invitations to the Sunshine Tour Final Stage Qualifier in Johannesburg, South Africa, to the top ten finishers, as well as a KES 1 million prize purse for the top 50 finishers, with the overall winner banking KES 180,220.
