The second edition of the KCB East Africa Golf Tour series kicks off this weekend at the 112-year-old Seafront Mombasa Golf Club.
The 11-month-long series, comprising 24-leg amateur legs is expected to grace twenty counties in Kenya and four other countries in the East African region: Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda fielding two tournaments each.
The Kenyan legs of the tour will see action in Mombasa, Eldoret, Kakamega, Nakuru, Limuru, Nyanza, Machakos, Thika, Ruiru Sports Club, Kericho, Nyeri, Railway, Nandi Bears, Great Rift Valley, Sigona, Kitale, Kisii, Leisure, Vipingo Ridge and Malindi Golf Club.
The December 2024 grand finale will see 168 golfers from across the region grace the amateur tournament compared to last year’s 116 players, who headlined the event.
KCB Bank has injected Sh65 million into the 2024 East Africa Golf Tour series, signalling its commitment to the growth of golf in the region.
KCB Group Director Marketing and Communications, Rosalind Gichuru said their objective is to expand the sport and allow budding golfers to hone their skills.
“This is centred on our brand purpose; For People. For Better. With a robust aim of opening doors of opportunities to individuals, businesses, and communities to realize their full potential and actualize their dreams,” said Gichuru.
She said the KCB’s unwavering support and commitment to golf remains part of its larger citizenship and corporate social investment agenda.
“We ride on our conviction that we must support our communities where we operate, to create a pool of talent that can compete in local, regional, and international competitions to not only etch their names in the history books but also to brand our country in a positive light,’ she said.
She was speaking during the unveiling of the 2024 KCB East Africa Golf Tour series at Railways Golf Club, Nairobi on Wednesday morning.
Over the past decade, KCB has spent over Sh400 million in golf sponsorships with a robust aim of building the sport to an elite level.
The Bank will also incorporate the setup and development of environmental-friendly LPG solutions across various golf clubs the tour will traverse in a bid to mitigate the environmental risks brought by climate change.
“Over and above the amazing golf courses we will visit, we are also ensuring that we take care of our environment which is facing insurmountable threats from the effects of climate change. For this reason, we will maintain the tree planting exercises across the clubs and incorporate the setup and development of environmentally friendly LPG solutions,” said Gichuru.
“We believe that through such interventions, we shall be able to realize a low-carbon society and effectively utilize the existing energy sources while promoting renewable energy efforts.”
The Bank has partnered with Beulah City Ltd, a property firm, which has committed to giving an apartment (in the Ikhaya Beulah Genesis project) valued at Sh2.1 million as the hole-in-one prize for every leg of the 2024 tour.
In last year’s edition, the tourney reached over 1,500 participants and over 8,00 juniors and ladies in the clinics that ran concurrently with the series.
This year the tour is expected to feature 3,000 golfers, 1,000 juniors and 500 ladies.