The Magical Kenya Open was first played in 1967 and formed part of the Challenge Tour beginning in 1991. This year, the tournament gets a seat at the grown-ups table as it debuts on the European Tour. There has seen a different winner in each of the last 26 playings and no two-time winners over that span. Italian Lorenzo Gagli could make history with a successful title defense, though his odds are long +10000. The event returns to the Karen Country Club in Nairobi, where it was last played in 2016 with Swede Sebastian Soderberg hoisting the trophy. Soderberg came off at +4500 on the odds board at BookMaker.eu. Justin Harding is the betting favorite with odds of +1200.
Odds to Win Magical Kenya Open at BookMaker.eu
Justin Harding +1200
Erik Van Rooyen +1600
George Coetzee +2000
Romain Langasque +2200
Adri Arnaus +2200
Clement Sordet +2500
Jeff Winther +2800
Scott Vincent +2800
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +3000
Gaganjeet Bhullar +3300
Seungsu Han +3300
Shubhankar Sharma +3300
Josh Geary +3500
Nick Cullen +4000
Haydn Porteous +4000
Oliver Wilson +4500
Daan Huizing +4500
Sean Crocker +4500
Sebastian Soderberg +4500
Robert MacIntyre +5000
Anton Karlsson +5000
Louis De Jager +5500
John Catlin +5500
Gregory Bourdy +6000
Pep Angles +6000
Bryce Easton +6060
Masahiro Kawamura +6600
Matthew Jordan +6600
Hosung Choi +6600
Kalle Samooja +6600
Jin-Ho Choi +6600
Renato Paratore +6600
Ricardo Gouveia +7000
Johannes Veerman +7000
Matthew Nixon +7000
Ross McGowan +7500
Adrien Saddier +7500
Oliver Farr +8000
Matteo Manassero +8000
Michael Hoey +8000
Jacques Kruyswijk +8000
Jonathan Thomson +8000
Jose-Filipe Lima +8000
Hugo Leon +8000
Connor Syme +8000
Deyen Lawson +8000
Gavin Moynihan +9000
Gonzalo Fdez-Castano +9000
Kim Koivu +9000
Lasse Jensen +9000
Laurie Canter +9000
Steven Brown +9000
Odds Analysis
Sebastian Soderberg +4500
He’s the last player to win the Kenya Open on this track and he’s been hanging around the top of the field in his last few starts, so why not take a flyer on the Swede with a nice payout. Oddsmakers aren’t convinced that Soderberg has turned a corner after missing six cuts to open 2019, but a T21 at the Oman Open and T20 at last week’s Qatar Masters suggest something big is in the works. He won at Karen with a -18 three years ago and finished T6 at last year’s MKO at Muthiaga.
Justin Harding +1200
He’s the betting favorite, but the odds are long enough to seriously consider Harding. He’s perhaps the most in-form player among the field and he’s coming off a win at last week’s Qatar Masters, his first on the Euro Tour. But he’s been a winner elsewhere with five victories in nine months spanning three different Tours. A South African, Harding should find the layout at Karen to his liking, but will he be motivated enough to continue his torrid pace?
Erik Van Rooyen +1600
He’s another South African golfer who fits the mold on this layout. Van Rooyen was one of a record nine players to finish as runner-up last week with that effort coming off a T36 in a much stronger field at the WGC Mexico, so he is in good form. He has yet to win on the Euro Tour, but he’s not stranger to tasting victory, doing so on the Sunshine and Challenge Tours. He grabbed a top-20 when the event was last held at Karen in 2016 and he ranks highly in several statistical categories, suggesting a breakout victory is in the works.
Adri Arnaus +2200
The Spaniard has caught the eye of many, including oddsmakers, with some recent strong play. His rookie season on Tour has produced four top-30s while going 6 for 8. Arnaus is coming off a T14 at last week’s Qatar Masters and also claimed the Challenge Tour finale last year while rising to No. 148 in the world rankings. He missed the cut at the MKO last year, but this one is on a different track.
Course: Karen Country Club – 6,922 yards, Par 71
At less than 7,000 yards, Karen is a short course by Tour standards. And playing in altitude shrinks the track even more. The layout forces players to think more and course management is a priority. There are hazards, but not to the extent of other tracks on Tour. It’s tree-lined with more of a traditional design and the bent grass greens and kikuya fairways are a reason why South Africans have thrived on this layout in the past. Keep the ball in play and you will go low. All the par-5s are reachable and should yield a number of birdie and eagle opportunities. Weather could be a factor with winds expected to gust up to 20 MPH during the week.
TV Coverage: Golf Channel
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