Magical Kenya Open 2021: Form stats for this week's European Tour event in Africa

The European Tour heads to east Africa for the first of two back-to-back events in Kenya.

First up is the Magical Kenya Open at Karen Country Club, located on the outskirts of the country's capital Nairobi.

Karen Country Club has been around for more than 80 years and is arguably the second most famous course in Kenya, behind Muthaiga Golf Club.

Situated 10 miles south-west of Nairobi city centre, Karen is a parkland course with many heavily tree-lined fairways and plenty of dense vegetation.

Designed by English banker Remy Martin and opened in October 1937, Karen Country Club has reasonably flat fairways, with numerous small water hazards. The greens are on the small side, as well as undulating, and sown with Bentgrass.

Although not a long course by modern Tour standards, there are a number of subtle dog legs, so finding the right part of the narrow fairways off the tee will be important.

Accuracy, rather than power, will be the key ingredient this week when golfers will need to determine the best angle into the pin to set up a birdie opportunity.

There is an abundance of par-fours which are under 400 yards in length and, when Guido Migliozzi won here two years ago, his 72-hole total was 268.

A large part of the course was built on a former coffee estate, reflecting Kenya's colonial past.

On the tee

Unsurprisingly, this week's tournament will not be packed full of household names.

Far from it, just two members of the world's top 100 will be teeing-up in Kenya, with England's Aaron Rai the highest-ranked pro.

Check out the latest betting ahead of this week's Magical Kenya Open

Over the past decade, Karen Country Club has hosted a number of professional events across three Tours - the European, Challenge and Sunshine.

For those trying to sniff out a winner this week, then you may as well start by looking at a handful of South African pros.

Daniel Van Tonder, Justin Harding, JC Ritchie and Louis De Jager have decent histories at Karen.

Van Tonder must certainly be given some serious thought. The world No 134 has won four Sunshine Tour events during the past seven months, and lost a play-off in the African Players Championship on Sunday.

All four of the 30-year-old's appearances at Karen have yielded top-12 finishes.

European challengers

Romain Langasque is also worth a look. The Frenchman tied-for-sixth at Karen Country Club when the European Tour came to town two years ago - and he also finished second here during a Challenge Tour event in 2016.

Other names to keep an eye on include Karen debutants Kurt Kitayama and Jamie Donaldson, both of whom posted top-10s in Qatar over the weekend.

Migliozzi, winner of the Kenya Open in 2019, finished joint-second in Qatar after closing with a 65.

And when the Italian won at Karen in March of that year, he topped the category for Strokes Gained: Tee To Green, and was third in Stroke Gained: Off The Tee.

Finally Joachim B Hansen, who won in Johannesburg last autumn, might be worth a flutter. The Dane posted a tie-for-ninth on Sunday.

Tournament background

Kenya's national open dates back to 1967, and was originally part of the Safari Circuit which attracted many of Europe's leading golfers in the days before the European Tour became a year-long schedule.

During the 1970s and much of the 1980s, when the fledgling European Tour was largely an April to October existence, players such as Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam would often start their year on the continent of Africa.

Ballesteros and Woosnam are both former winners of the Kenya Open, which was promoted to Challenge Tour status in 1991.

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As a Challenge Tour event, Karen Country Club hosted the tournament between 2004 and 2008, and again from 2013 to 2016.

In 2019, the tournament was elevated once again and became part of the European Tour.

It was all set to be played again 12 months ago, but was scrapped at the 11th hour when the European Tour opted for a four-month shut down during the first Covid-19 lockdown of 2020.

Karen Country Club has also staged two events on South Africa's Sunshine Tour, in 2018 and 2019.

Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves

Course Key:
Challenge Tour: 2013 to 2016
Sunshine Tour: 2018 and 2019 (2)
European Tour: 2019 (1)