A new champion will be crowned at this year’s Kenya Amateur Matchplay Championship that tees off tomorrow at the par-72 Sigona Golf Club, with the winner on the match play on Sunday will earn a ticket to the 2026 Magical Kenya Open.
With players drawn from eight nations, the championships starts on Thursday, July 24th to Sunday, July 27th where Ugandan Michael Alunga will not be defending his title where 78 players have been enlisted from hosts Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia, Mauritius, Ethiopia, and Austria.
In absence of Alunga, 2023 champion Michael Karanga, 2022 champion John Lejirma, Elvis Muigu, Ebill Omoll, and Adel Balala, are some of the local names that will take to the course on Thursday in the qualifiers with Tsevi Soni, Krish Shah, and Kevin Ayien highlighting the juniors who will tee off alongside the seasoned competitors.
Less than a week after winning Kabete Open at Vetlab, South Africa’s Prannay Kapur leads the foreign contingent that also has clubmate Gilbert Chalwe who finished joint second at Kabete Open, Felix Dusabe of Rwanda, and Gabriel Le Court from Mauritius, among others.
Alunga, who beat compatriot Joseph Cwinywaai in the final last year to win the title at the Windsor will not participate in this year’s tournament.
The Amateur Matchplay Championship is the second part of the three-part Kenya Swing Series, the others being the recently concluded Kabete Open and the Kenya Amateur Strokeplay Championship