SAFARI TOUR
Jittery pros embark on Safari Tour 2019/20
season
Patrick Obath
Local pros are struggling to adapt to
the new format as the Safari Tour
begins to take shape. Among the
issues unsettling the pros include
honouring fixtures in the expanded
calendar, the scoring system and the
relatively small purse size.
The Safari Tour which is in its second
season was mooted last year to
help pros prepare adequately for
Kenya Open while at the same time
ensuring they remain competitive
in regional events notably Uganda
8
Open, Rwanda Open and Tanzania
Open. After a successful inaugural
season, the Tour organizers
Kenya Open Golf Limited, KOGL,
introduced a raft of changes to make
the series more competitive.
Players on the Tour are now
required to pay Kshs 10,000 annual
fee to become members while a
further Kshs 3,000 is charged per
tournament. Players who fail to take
up membership are charged Kshs
5,000 per event. The 2019/2020
Tour has a prize fund of $180,000
across 12 events with the winner on
average taking home over $4,000
per event. All of the Safari Tour
events in Kenya have a guaranteed
prize fund of $10,000 whilst the
Uganda Open and Rwanda Open are
the richest events offering $50,000
and $30,000 prize fund respectively.
It is the expanded number of events
that the pros feel has negated the
significance of the prize purse. The
general consensus among the pros is