South Africa Here We Come: Kenyan Contingent Upbeat As Sunshine Tour Final Qualifying School Tees Off In Johannesburg

_{Kenyan contingent for the Sunshine Tour Final Qualifying School in South Africa. PHOTO/ SUNSHINE TOUR}

JOHANESBURG, South Africa – The ten qualifiers from the Sunshine Development East Africa Swing Qualifying School (Q-School) golf tournament, played last week at the Great Rift Valley Golf Resort, are looking forward to the final qualifier tournament set for the 8th to the 11th of April 2025, at the Heron Banks Golf Course, in Johannesburg, South Africa.   

The ten qualifiers include the winner of the Q-School tournament, Rwanda’s Celestin Nsanzuwera of the Kigali Golf Resort & Villa, Royal Nairobi Golf Club’s elite amateur John Lejirma, Kakamega Golf Club’s Dismas Indiza, Muthaiga Golf Club’s Greg Snow and Kenya Railways Golf Club’s Samuel Njoroge. 

Speaking ahead of the departure, Muthaiga Golf Club’s Greg Snow — who finished in a tie for third at the East Africa Swing Q-School — said he is looking forward to the challenge coming week: 

 “I am looking forward to some great golf, I think it’s important for me to go out and play some good golf and secure a Sunshine tour card. That’s my goal for next week.” 

On his experience of the East Africa Swing Q-School Tournament, he said, “It was a great experience playing Q-School a qualifier, for the first time ever in Kenya.” 

“I think I played pretty decent, this past week at Great Rift, though I made lot of soft mistakes in the last two rounds, around the greens.” 

“We are looking forward to going forward now, next week in South Africa, building on the positives from last week. I thought the golf course was playing pretty hard last week with the wind and the soft fairways. It prepared us well for the challenge ahead.” 

“After South Africa, we are looking forward to more local events, especially now, with the East Africa Swing, looking forward to having a lot of game time playing week in, week out like all the other professionals doing at the other tours. Giving us more exposure and getting us more ready for events coming up, especially like the Kenya Open.” He added. 

“A big thank you to the organizers for giving us this opportunity, we will be playing with the best players on the continent, I think once you start playing with good players, you also realize where you’re at and going forward its great exposure. As East African players, hopefully we can continue like this for the next couple of years.” He concluded. 

_{Muthaiga Golf Club’s Greg Snow follows his shot off the first fairway during round four action of East Africa Sunshine Development Tour – East Africa Swing Qualifying School tournament. PHOTO/ SUNSHINE TOUR}

Kenya Railways Golf Club’s Samuel Njoroge who also finished in a tie for third at the Q-School, said he will be looking forward to putting the lessons learnt at the Great Rift Valley Golf Resort at the South African event next week. 

“The lesson that I learned at great rift, is that I just need to be more consistent on the golf course, hit the ball well, and to concentrate. It was not easy, but I tried and qualified to the final Q-School tournament, I’m happy.” 

“I’m happy to be able to travel to South Africa, it will be my first time as a pro to go and compete there. My expectation is to play well, hopefully to make it to the last stage of the Q-School and get the tour card to participate in Sunshine Tour.” 

On the East Africa Swing Q-School experience, he said, “First and foremost, is to give thanks to the to the IMG and Sunshine Tour teams, because such events, will help us to improve our game and bring more pros to the game, and especially juniors.   

 “The thing that impressed me the most was the organization, the organizers of the tour did a good job, we as players were all happy, the course played well. It was prepared well and I I was happy with the management of the tournament.” 

The other qualifiers who will be taking part in the Sunshine tour final Q-School tournament are; Karen Country Club’s Edwin Mudanyi, Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club’s Njoroge Kibugu, Kiambu Golf Club’s Simon Ngige, Kenya Railways Golf Club’s Mike Kisia and Great Rift Valley Lodge’s Jastas Madoya. 

The group is set to depart for South Africa on Sunday 6th April, with the final Q-School action set to start from Tuesday 8th April, at the Heron Banks Golf Course, Johannesburg.