Greg Snow: I play to win, not merely to participate

Greg Snow follows the progress of his shot from the 10th hole during the KCB Karen Masters at Karen Country club on March 18, 2017. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU |

What you need to know:

  • Kenyan professional golfer Greg Snow has high expectations in this year’s Barclays Kenya Open golf Championship scheduled for the par-71 Muthaiga Golf Club course.
  • The 26-year-old Snow will be very much at home during this week’s tournament at Muthaiga.
  • He says his expectations this year is to win the Kenya Open.

Kenyan professional golfer Greg Snow has high expectations in this year’s Barclays Kenya Open golf Championship scheduled for the par-71 Muthaiga Golf Club course.

The 26-year-old Snow will be very much at home during this week’s tournament at Muthaiga. He says his expectations this year is to win the Kenya Open.

“I play in events to win not only to participate. I have a  goal to finish in a better position than I did a few years ago,” says Snow, who was born on June 16, 1990, and whose main objective is to play in the European and PGA Tours.

And if his recent performance in the Barclays Kenya Open qualifying events are anything to go by, Snow is certainly one of the players the visiting professionals will have to watch.

He is hot, keen and ready to go, which is the spirit the rest of the 22 Kenyans in the Open should have. His best placing in the Open is tying ninth, having gone up the leaderboard before dropping after a couple of bad holes at Karen Country.

During the recent qualifying event played at his home course of Muthaiga, Snow shot eight under par, a score which would have seen finish in the top five if he was playing in the Kenya Open.

“I have been practicing daily to keep myself in good shape for the Open. My current form is pretty good still a few things to tune up prior to the open that I am working on.

“Last year I had an injury did not play at all, this year I shall be starting off with the Mena Tour School in Morocco just before the Kenya open,” Snow before leaving for Morocco on March 2.

He is planning on playing a full schedule of 22 events on the MENA Tour for 2017. In addition, he will play a few European Challenge Tour events, including the European Tour Q School.

“Muthaiga is my home course I have an advantage as I know the golf course, but like any golf course you play in an event if you have not prepared well coming into a tournament it can bite you.”

Snow comes into the Open with a wealth of experience, having featured not only in the Open but many other international events. He says he is just waiting for that moment when he will break through and venture into the big league.

A former student of Braeburn International School and Odessa College in USA courtesy of a golf scholarship, Snow started golfing at the young age of five, and in 2006 he became the youngest player to play in the Barclays Kenya Open.

Locally, he has won the Kenya Boys Matchplay three times in a row (2006- 2008) and has represented Kenya in the Orange Bowl Junior World Championship in Florida, USA. He captained the Kenya Junior team to the All Africa Junior Championship in Swaziland where Kenya finished second.

Individually he was placed fifth.

This is in addition to winning the Muthaiga Open, Windsor Classic, Uhuru Shield, Karen Challenge and representing Kenya in the senior championships among many other national events.

As a pro, Snow who turned pro in 2010, has featured in events in Egypt, Morocco, Dubai. Oman, Bahrain, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda.

He travelled to Europe to play in the Challenge Tour in France, Germany, Spain and Slovakia in 2015, and the European Tour in Russia before the 2016 Barclays Kenya Open.