NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 1 – In its 55 years of existence, no Kenyan is yet to win the Kenya Open title despite the prestigious DP Tour (formerly European Tour) event being held on home soil.
In March this year, China’s Wu Shun walked away the winner at the Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi, becoming the latest foreigner to emerge victorious since Briton Guy Wolstenhome first lifted the trophy aloft in 1967.
Nonetheless, Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) president Regina Gachora believes Kenya is a minefield of golfing talent who can compete at par with the who-is-who of the sport at the worldwide level.
Gachora reveals that the foundation intends to provide more junior golfers with exposure through regular participation in international competitions.
She believes that regular competitions with other golfers from around the globe will push the young ones to up their game in order to excel in their careers.
“So, this year we have had six tournaments for handicapped juniors that helped them get world rankings. Next year, we are trying to bump it up to 12 tournaments and the reason is because we want as many juniors as possible to be part of the world rankings; the world rankings determine whether they can get scholarships or whether they can qualify to be called professionals,” Gachora explains.
She adds: “Exposure is the most important thing when it comes to sports. They may think they are good when playing amongst themselves but once you put them at an international stage that is when they realise that they need to up their game, train more and get better.”
The ultimate dream is to – from this crop of young golfers – create history by producing the first-ever Kenyan winner of the Kenya Open.
“We are trying to increase the number of tournaments where our junior golfers can gain visibility. We have also done a partnership with US Kids Golf where these golfers can travel around the world and compete in these international tournaments. These are the things that help them become better golfers and one day, be able to see the first Kenyan to win the Kenya Open,” she says.
The journey thus far
Looking back to the year, Gachora believes JGF have made huge strides in the development of the game among the juniors.
Chief among the successes is an increased number of local and international tournaments for junior golfers, including the World Championship in Pinehurst in the United States.
“We were able to raise the number of our tournaments this year from 11-12 to 28-29. A lot of children were able to travel outside for tournaments through US Kids Golf because they had qualified in the country. We had seven children playing in the World Championships in Pinehurst unlike before when we only had around one or two,” she says.
Kenya was also represented at the All-Africa Golf Championship in Egypt in September and is expected to be in contention at the prestigious Nick Faldo Series at the Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club in Abu Dhabi.
“We also had our children participating in Egypt; the boys were third and the girls were fourth. We now have our children going to the Nick Faldo Series for the first time ever. It is where Rory McIlroy started and we all know how big he is. So, we are exposing our junior golfers to that high level of competition,” Gachora explains.
The four currently flying the country’s flag in the series include Daniel Kiragu (Muthaiga Golf Club), Chanelle Wangari (VetLab Sports Club), Krisha Shah (VetLab Sports Club) and Faith Ontune (GolfPark Golf Club).
She adds: “This is why we are taking them to Abu Dhabi (for Nick Faldo Series)…four of them…to compete with the champions of champions. Do we expect them to win? No… but when they come back, we expect they will have a change of mindset and work with their coaches to determine where they will go next in terms of their golf careers.”
Key to the career progression of these junior golfers has been the empowerment of local coaches through modern training to impart them with skills and knowledge similar to those of their peers in the United Kingdom, US and South Africa.
New Year resolution
Even with the achievements thus far, Gachora believes there is still room for improvement for the foundations as far as developing the game is concerned.
“I think this year we have gone above and beyond our expectations. However, next year, we have to push the envelope. We have committed to ourselves that we want to have a golf team at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. We want to focus on more development, training of coaches and those who want to be trainers of coaches so as to spread the game out there,” she explains.
