KAREN MASTERS
KCB Masters 2019: Perfect golf on display!
Toto Thimba: Winner
T
he KCB Karen Masters 2019
will go down as one of the
most eventful international
golf tournament to be held in Kenya.
Crowd favourite Toto Thimba’s
jaw-dropping winning score of -26
was indeed record breaking. It was
amazing since such a low score has
never been witnessed in the Kenya
Open rounds that have been played
at Karen. It’s instructive that during
the Masters, the Karen course was
playing par 72 while it plays par 71 at
the Kenya Open.
Interestingly, the caliber of players at
the Kenya Open is higher than the
cast on the Sunshine Tour. More so,
with the elevation of Kenya Open to
European Tour status. So what could
explain such amazing scores which
saw all the top 10 players in double
digits? Was the course setup too
easy? Were they aided by friendly
weather conditions or was it down to
sheer brilliance?
This year’s KCB Karen Masters
was only featuring as a Sunshine
Tour round for the second time
after the event was included on
the calendar last year. To say the
quality of the field was superb is
The KCB Karen Masters
2019 will go down as
one of the most eventful
international golf
tournament to be held in
Kenya.
an understatement! All the top 10
players on the Sunshine Tour Order
Of Merit led by top seeds Daniel Van
Tonder, JC Ritchie and defending
Champion Michael Palmer were
present at Karen in pursuit of money
and points.
The quality on display was evident
from the opening day when
Portugal’s Stephen Ferreira charged
to the top of the Leaderboard with a
flawless round of -10. Outsider and
eventual winner Toto Thimba would
later produce the best scores of 63,
66 and 65 in the ensuing rounds.
Through the four rounds, Thimba
dropped 5 shots registering a bogey
in round one and two followed by
three bogeys in round four which
he managed to offset with a brilliant
eagle on the par five second hole.