Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Kenya Golf Union (KGU) and NCBA Bank have entered into a partnership to support the season’s remaining 11 legs of the Kenya Amateur Golf Championship across the country following a sponsorship of Sh 5 million that makes the bank the title sponsors. A total of 26 events had been earmarked by the Tournament Committee at KGU. NCBA will now help in talent development during the remaining events this year and also boost the financial kitty for players who will be traveling across the country to participate in the various legs.

During the cheque handover ceremony at Railways Golf Club yesterday, KGU chairman Njiani Ndiritu underscored the value of support from corporates to ensure that the sport grows and thrives in the country. We are grateful for NCBA’s support, which will go a long way in professionalizing golf in Kenya. We believe that through this partnership, we will be able to nurture talent and grow the sport to greater heights. Now that we have a circuit for Amateurs that is even attracting foreigners from the region, certainly it means more prize money especially for the elite level players would need to be boosted,” he said.

NCBA Group Managing Director John Gachora on his part stated that it was an exciting journey for them to be part of considering they have been gradually building relationships with the sport of Golf in the country. “We are igniters and this is evident with the tournaments we held in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 We felt therefore as a Bank to be part of this initiative under KGU and we look forward to great tidings ahead. This year alone we are sponsoring at least 60 events across the region and this is testament to our commitment to Golf. We have every intention of reaching every golf club in Kenya and we laud KGU for being behind such a noble cause to help grow the game even in the communities. We certainly want to see golf grow to a top sport in the country and ensure we benefit as a country through tourism.

Tournament Director and KGU Vice-Chairman Phillip Ochola has called on players in the series to now improve on their craft following the introduction of prize monies while encouraging clubs to assist in tournaments facilitation.

“We have all seen the golf scene develop greatly in the country and this mostly boils down to Sponsors coming on board. The sponsorship and prize money for 2023 Series from our partners NCBA will be valued at Sh 200,000 per event and this will mostly be facilitation of movement and other logistics for players especially in the top 20. We now expect to see our players competing effectively and fighting to get a shot at entry for the Victoria Cup, region four championships and also eyeing entry for the next edition of the Kenya Open. It is great to have partners who see the vision as we do and we dare say that NCBA have been excellent ambassadors,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Kenya national team captain Denis Maara of Limuru Golf and Country Club has thanked Clubs for continuing to support players even as he praised Corporates for showing faith in Golf. “We cannot play without the courses and so all thanks to the Clubs for always hosting players but significantly it is expensive to run tournaments so having sponsors is a plus. The sport is growing significantly and it means more and more golfers are showing up to compete and so this partnership between KGU and NCBA is a key milestone for all of us.”