The news by President Uhuru Kenyatta that the government would increase the sponsorship Kenya Open golf championship was a relief to many sports fans across the country.
This will signify the entry of the country’s top tournament into the European Tour, which is highly regarded.This was welcomed by the organizers, who have always dreamt of the European Tour status since its inception, 50 years ago.
The president promised that the sponsorship will be doubled to 2.2 million Euros (around Sh280 million).
With the doubling of the prize money, it means next year’s tournament will have a prize fund of 1,000,000 Euros (Sh124.5 million) with the rest of the money to be used for logistics including affiliation fee to the European Tour.
This year the prize money was 500,000 Euros (Sh62.5 million) where the winner took home 80,000 Euros (about Sh10 million).