Sigona, Thika Greens to host major championships

What you need to know:

  • The long and most challenging Thika Greens, a few kilometres from Thika town, will be the venue of the Kenya Open Amateur Match Play Championship whose 2017 edition was held at Vet Lab Sports Club and won by Thika’s Joseph Gathumbi.

Sigona Golf Club in Kiambu County and the Thika Greens Golf Resort in Muranga county will host the 2018 Kenya Golf Union major championships.

According to the 2018 Kenya Amateur Golf Championship (KAGC) series just released by the Kenya Golf Union (KGU), Sigona, with its beautiful course, is scheduled to host the Kenya Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship from October 19 to 22.

The long and most challenging Thika Greens, a few kilometres from Thika town, will be the venue of the Kenya Open Amateur Match Play Championship whose 2017 edition was held at Vet Lab Sports Club and won by Thika’s Joseph Gathumbi.

The two events are the country’s major championship events organised by the KGU and which rotate to the various 18-hole courses in the country.

This year’s Open Strokeplay was held at Nyali Golf and Country Club in Mombasa where local boy Daniel Nduva emerged the winner. The 2018 KAGC calendar kicks off at Sigona with the 54-hole Sigona Bowl, one of the events in the country that also counts towards the World Amateur Rankings.

It will take place on January 20 to 21 and will be followed by the Mt Kenya Championship at the nine-hole Nyeri Golf Club from February 3 to 4.

There are 19 events in the KAGC series, formerly the Golfer of The Year (Goty).

Besides Sigona Bowl, Mt Kenya and the two majors, the events include the  Muthaiga Open, Windsor Classic, Winston Churchill Cup at Thika and Trans Nzoia Open at Kitale.

Others are Railway Invitational, Coronation Cup at Nakuru, Limuru Open, Coast Open, Kabete Open at Vet Lab and the Nyanza Open in Kisumu.

Also in the series are Teafields Trophy, Karen Challenge, Manchester Salver in Eldoret, Uhuru Shield at Royal and the Nyali Open in Mombasa which is usual the grand finale of the series.

Next year’s event will take place from December 14 to 16. Other tournaments the KGU has also included in its calendar are the international events such as Barclays Kenya Open set for Muthaiga Golf Club from March 22 to 25, 2018, and the Africa Region Five Championship whose 2018 edition will be hosted by Zimbabwe at Chapman Golf Club from April 10 to 12.

But before that, there will be the All Africa Junior Team Championship from March 4-10 in Morocco and the Victoria Cup, an international test match between Kenya and Uganda to be hosted by Kenya on a date yet to be announced. 

Also included in the calendar, is the Karen Masters whose 2018 edition will be held from July 19 22 and will be part of the Sunshine Tour of Southern Africa. 

The East Africa Challenge Cup, which is to be upgraded to Africa Region Four, is set for August 21-28 at a venue to be announced in Kenya while locally, the annual Tannahill Shield also known as the Easter Tournament is set for Royal Nairobi Golf Club from March 30 to April 2.