NAIROBI – Wednesday, March 26, 2025: IMG Kenya Limited, has signed a three-year exclusive deal with The Sunshine Tour of South Africa, to bring a brand new mixed, professional development golf tour to Kenya and East Africa.
The tour, dubbed The Sunshine Development Tour – East African Swing, will offer Kenyan and regional professional golfers and elite amateurs, both men and women, including Juniors, a chance to play regular competitive golf tournaments which will be organized in line with Sunshine Tour standards.
The East African Swing is part of a continent-wide development golf tour introduced by the Sunshine Tour which will have “swings” across Southern, East, West and North Africa. It is aimed at plugging the existing gap that leads to below par performances at top-level golfing events by local professionals and elite amateurs.
The tour, which will comprise a series of 10 events in a year, will deliver Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points, which are crucial for player advancement, providing local professional golfers with a genuine merit-based “pathway” into global golf.
This will not only offer them an opportunity to hone and test their skills amongst other top pros in Africa and the world but also expose them to more lucrative opportunities from which they can earn a living.
In the first year, the East African Swing will offer between KES 1 million and KES 2.5 million prize money for each tournament, to ensure that pros can sustain their commitment.
At the same time, it will provide a growth pad for elite amateurs, women golfers, and juniors as part of its sustainability agenda aimed at developing and enhancing the quality of golf in Kenya and the East African region.
Ahead of the tour, IMG Kenya and the Sunshine Tour have organized a 4 round qualifying event (Q-School) at Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club, Nairobi, Kenya between Sunday 30th March and Wednesday 2nd April 2025.
The ‘Q-School’ is a mandatory pre-requisite for earning OWGR points on the East Africa Swing, and all players hoping to join the tour must register online at https://easwing.epass.co.ke. Players completing the 4-round qualifier event will be awarded tour cards for the 2025/26 season. There is prize money of KES 1M and the top 10 qualifiers win fully supported invitations to the official Sunshine Tour Final Stage Qualifier in Johannesburg, 8 – 11 April 2025.
A calendar of events for the 2025/26 season will be announced shortly.
IMG Kenya Managing Director, Charles Gacheru, said:
“We are very pleased to be partnering with The Sunshine Tour of South Africa to bring The Sunshine Development Tour – East African Swing to Kenya and the region. It is our conviction that this tour will offer golfers the much-needed platform to play consistent and competitive golf to an ever-increasing standard, whilst providing them with a steady revenue stream.
“Overall, our objective is to enhance the quality of professional golf in Kenya and the region, provide elite amateurs and juniors with a development pad, and elevate our profile as a golfing community on the global stage. We believe that, through this tour, our local and regional golf landscape will be transformed to produce globally acclaimed golf champions whilst providing a development pipeline for future talent.
“We look forward to joining hands with other like-minded partners to grow this event to make it bigger, more sustainable, and more impactful for the present and future of golf in Kenya and the region.”
Commenting on the deal, Sunshine Tour Commissioner, Thomas Abt, said:
“The launch of the Sunshine Development Tour is a significant moment for golf in Africa as we are able to create unrivalled opportunities for professional golfers and the top amateurs in East Africa. We now have an effective vehicle to unearth the talent on the continent and bring new stars to the game.
“The Sunshine Tour and Sunshine Ladies Tour have effective global pathways in place that are perfectly suited to the development of talent in Africa.
“We look forward to launching the Sunshine Development Tour in what is a milestone moment for the game in Africa, and one in which we can play an important role in the growth of golf here.”
