NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 24 – Ahead of the new season, three local golf professionals have been boosted by the Kenya Vision 2030 and the Kenya Tourism Board in a bid to improve their performance, gearing up for the 2027 Magical Kenya Open.
The trio is hard-hitting Mumias-based Dismas Indiza, Mohit Mediratta, and Golf Park golfer David Wakhu.
Sigona Golf Club’s Mediratta welcomed the move, noting that financial constraints have played a big role in Kenyan local pros’ dismal performance at the prestigious DP World Tour Magical Kenya.
“Over the past few years, sponsorship has been scarce and we as professional golfers have been playing golf under severe pressure due to the financial constraints that we have been going through, but via the program that Kenya vision 2030 has created, we are now able to play golf with a lot of freedom and the financial burden has been taken off us,” Mediratta said.
He added, “We have 25 events coming up between now and the Kenya Open next year, and we look forward to working hand in hand with the Kenya Vision 2030 and Tourism Board to become better golfers, most importantly, to put Kenya on the global map, and create a spotlight for this beautiful country of ours.”
Director General Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat, Kenneth Mwige, challenged the local pros to focus on maximizing play on the 25 events, which hands them ample preparations ahead of the 2027 Magical Kenya Open.
“Kenya Vision 2030 and Kenya Tourism Board have been in the forefront promoting the brand called Kenya because we are aware we have two high-end events, the Magical Kenya Open and WRC Safari Rally that put Kenya in front of a billion eyeballs every year,” Mwige underscored.
“In 2021, when we started this partnership, hardly any player have a sponsor, we sponsored 15 professionals across Africa to promote Pan-Africanism. This past tournament, we saw our players consistently playing under. We make a special request to our pros not to be seen on the normal tees where other golfers play, that should end,” Mwige added.
The Director General called on the private sector to take the forefront in sponsoring Kenyan sportsmen and women.
“We are trying to see if we can monetize sports because it’s one of the natural resources that we have. We want to first get the structures and foundation right to make sure corporates and the government are working together and for Kenya Vision 2030, by design, it’s 30 percent government and 70 percent private sector.”
He went on, “What we have done in golf is a template in other sports; we want to see whether we can institutionalize corporate support for players because there is a lot of talent that is lost between primary and high schools.”
For the Kenya Tourism Board CEO, June Chepkemei, she said, “Going into the future we have agreed to partner with Kenya Vision 2030 to support the three pros here who are among who did not get any sponsorship during the 2026 Magical Kenya Open, we have agreed we will provide them with logical support as they start the season in April, they will be carrying the Kenyan brand.”
