With 22 Kenyans taking on the field yesterday within the event?¡¥s first round, and also the cut projected from two-under to level par, you might be forgiven can be expected at the very least twelve Kenyans to grace the weekend. However, year after year, only two or three professionals increase the risk for cut. On advice from my good friend Danny Muchira, a practiced golf hacker and part of the two Karen and Muthaiga Golf Clubs, today's column will dwell on what can be done to fix the sad state in our paid ranks.
The building blocks of the sport are undeniably junior development; South African Ernie Els, an all time favourite golfer of mine, started golf aged 8 years. As soon as he was 14 yrs . old he would be a scratch Ping K15 fairway wood golfer as well as in 1984, he won the Junior World Golf Championship in the Boys 13-14 category, beating Phil Mickelson to second place.
Many years later in 1989, aged 17 years, Els won the South African Amateur Championship and turned Pro shortly afterwards. In 1994, Els won his initial championship, the US Open, the very first of three majors. Els has since won two World Golf Championships and 13 other PGA Tour events.
In recognition from the support he received as a junior, Els partnered using the Fancourt Foundation in 1999 to spot juniors, from lower than fortunate backgrounds, with talent and potential amongst people of golf. The Ernie Els Foundation has since provided educational, moral and financial support to a huge selection of youngsters.
The efforts with the Ernie Els foundation have produced high class golfers for example the 2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen, James Kamte who may have played severally with the Kenya Open, Lee-anne Pace, winner in the 2010 Ladies European Order of Merit and also the 2011 Masters Champion Charl Schwatzel was a part part of the muse.
For Kenyans to determine top discount golf clubs quality professional golfers in future Kenya Opens, there's no quick way, we should instead invest heavily in junior golf development; and this will not reference the elitist but important efforts of golf clubs across Kenya. Growing golf, it needs to be introduced around the world, in primary schools and secondary schools in every 47 counties. We need to emulate the model adopted by UNICEF for football, volley music and arts.
UNICEF has done an incredibly clever thing, they've established centres of excellence where local talent is assembled, housed, fed and because of the skills to develop inside their respective fields. The Kenya Women Under 20 team which is on the verge of some sort of cup qualification will be the result of the UNICEF efforts and Harambee Stars mid-fielder Abdul Malik is also a graduate of the program.
The UNICEF Talent Academy is the way forward for sports, here is the model that may bear fruits. Incidentally, the man behind the UNICEF program is Kimanzi Muthengi, a golfer and former captain at the Machakos Golf Club.
In golf, closest we need to a junior program could be the Rose Naliaka Foundation which is the future of women's golf in Kenya. Inside of 10-years, the top woman amateur and professional golfers in Ping G20 irons East Africa all will be graduates with this foundation.
Naliaka, a deadly amateur golfer in her day as well as the only woman professional golfer in Kenya is doing exactly what Ernie Els is doing, giving returning to town. Efforts on the Nyali Golf and Country Club, led by Alice Wahome and Taufiq Balala should also be spread to add children whose fathers are certainly not members, children from Bombolulu and Mtwapa!
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