Venue change confirmed for 2026 Magical Kenya Open
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Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 10.01.26. | 15:32
Kenya Open, which forms part of the prestigious DP World Tour, has been staged at Muthaiga Golf Club over the past four years
After weeks of uncertainty, organisers have announced that the 2026 Magical Kenya Open, set to be staged from Thursday, 19 to Sunday, 22 February, will be held at Karen Country Club.
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Kenya Open Golf Limited (KOGL) chairperson Patrick Obath, speaking to the media, said the tournament's Local Organising Committee (LOC) held its first meeting on Wednesday, 7 January, to review logistics for this year's event, with the venue being top of the agenda.
Kenya Open, which forms part of the prestigious DP World Tour, has been staged at Muthaiga Golf Club over the past four years.
The tournament was first held in 1967 at Muthaiga Golf Club as part of the Africa Safari Circuit. Other tournaments in the circuit at the time were held in Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Zambia, and later Zimbabwe, from 1977 to 1990.
The Open then joined the European Challenge Tour from 1991 to 2018. Government sponsorship of the tournament became significant after 2019, when it was held as a European Tour event, with the state injecting Ksh250 million in funding.
There have been fears among local professionals who use the Kenya Open as a pathway to world events that the Open will not be held after the government delayed in confirming sponsorship.
With Kenya having launched two professional tours in 2025, namely, the Sunshine Development Tour-East Africa swing and the Professional Golfers of Kenya (PGK) Equator Tour, better performance is expected from local golfers this year.
While the most successful player in the tournament's history is Maurice Bembridge, with three victories, the event has, over the years, provided a springboard for other players to enjoy further success on golf’s biggest stages.
Among those are 2000 champion Trevor Immelman, who went on to win the Masters Tournament at Augusta National in 2008.
Edoardo Molinari, Team Europe’s Ryder Cup Vice Captain, who has gone on to win three DP World Tour titles since his success in his rookie season on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2007, while Aaron Rai, a British golfer of Kenyan heritage who won in 2017, has become a Rolex Series winner and more recently a PGA TOUR winner since his triumph in Kenya.
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