A field of over 50 golfers is expected to take to the course on Monday coming week when the East Africa Swing of the Sunshine Development Tour tees off at the Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort with a Qualifying School (Q-School) event.

The Q-School will be a four-day event with a Sh 1 million prize purse which will award players with Sunshine Tour cards for the 2025/26 season, with the top ten finishers at the Great Rift event earning invitations to play at the Sunshine Tour Final Stage Qualifier in Johannesburg, South Africa from the 8th to the 11th of April 2025.

Amongst the golfers registered to play at the Q-School includes the 2025 Magical Kenya Open top Kenyan finisher, Riz Charania, Muthaiga Golf Club’s Greg Snow, Nyali Golf and Country Club’s Daniel Nduva, the Kibugu brothers – Mutahi and Njoroge, 1998 Kenya Open runner-up Jacob Okello, Alfred Nandwa, Michael Karanga, Samuel Chenge, Mohit Mediratta, Mike Kisia, David Wakhu, and Erick Ooko.

From the region, the tournament has attracted the interest of Ugandan, Tanzanian, Burundian, and Rwandese golfers who will battle it out against their Kenyan compatriots for top honours. Among them Celestin Nsanzuwera, Byiringiro Jacques, Nsabimana Aloys, and Benjamin Mukisa from Rwanda; David Kamulindwa and Otile Ronald from Uganda; Nuru Mollel and Isaac Wanyeche from Tanzania; and Nkurunziza Salum from Burundi.

This follows this week’s announcement of a partnership between The Sunshine Tour and IMG Kenya for the launch of The Sunshine Development Tour – East African Swing, which will offer professional golfers and elite amateurs, both men and women, a chance to play regular competitive golf tournaments organized in line with Sunshine Tour standards.

This Tour will include 10 to 15 events annually and offer Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points, which are crucial for player advancement, and essential for Olympic Games qualifiers. Qualification to play golf at the Olympic Games is based on OWGR, with the top 15 players in the world automatically earning a spot. Thereafter, players are eligible based on world rankings with a maximum of up to two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15.

As such, the Sunshine Development Tour – East Africa Swing offers Kenya, and her neighbours, a pathway to Olympic Games golf qualification that would have previously been out of reach owing to lack of enough tournaments offering OWGR points in the region.

The Q-School is a mandatory pre-requisite for earning Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points on the East Africa Swing. The top 50 finishers at the Q-School will share the Sh 1 million prize purse, with the overall winner banking Sh 180,220.

“Ordinarily Q-Schools don’t offer Prize money, but we made a decision at IMG Kenya to kick start the Tour with an incentive for the professional golfers,” said Peter Gacheru, IMG Kenya CEO when announcing details of their partnership with The Sunshine Tour.
-Webster Nyandika