Darius Van Driel, 34, of the Netherlands, won the 2024 Magical Kenya Open-DP World Tour after an impressive fourth-round score of -14 (270) at the Par 71 Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi on Sunday, February 25th, 2024.
Van Driel had a birdie in hole 3,12&18 and a super eagle shot at hole 10. His only undoing was in hole 11 where he got an unusual bogie with the World No.366 taking home a whopping 425,000 Euros(Kshs 66,026,544).
The birdie at hole No.18 elicited wild cheers as he sauntered to his first-ever DP Tour win with a finishing title of -4 under par.
And despite not winning in Kenya since, the 34-year-old’s golfing journey has been a remarkable one. He won the Order of Merit in his maiden season and then graduated from the European Challenge Tour in 2019, the same season he lost in the final of the Belgian Knockout to former Kenya Open winner Guido Migliozzi on the DP World Tour.
The win moves Van Driel to sixth on the prestigious ‘Race to Dubai’ Rankings and eighth on the International Swing
In winning the coveted title, Van Driel pocketed Sh60,993,659.94 (€392,570.38) while joint runners-ups Joe Dean (England) and Nacho Elvira (Spain) bagged Sh31,035,008.34 (€199,749.04) each.
Coming in second was the duo of Englishman Joe Dean,29, and Nacho Elvira,37 of Spain who were tied in second place after a successful run with a total score of -12(272) after the final round.
The Chief Guest at the Closing Ceremony Cabinet Secretary of Sports, Creative Economy and Youth Affairs Ababu Namwamba in his speech lauded the Organizers for a fantastic event.
“The economic spinoff of the tournament and the eyeballs has put Kenya on the map with over 500 million households watching. We want to sincerely thank the European Tour for making Kenya a fixture and we hope to continue making the Event memorable for all even in the future for everyone,” the CS said.
Leaderboard -Top 10
1 Darius Van Driel, (Netherlands ) 66 69 68 67= 270 (-14)
2 Joe Dean, (England) 68, 69, 68, 67 =272 (-12)
2 Nacho Elvira, (Spain) 69, 69 ,68, 66 =272 (12)
4 Elvira Manue, (Spain) 70 66 67 70 =273 (-11)
4 Matthew Jordan, (England) 74 65 68 66 =273 (-11)
4 Adrian Otaegui (Spain) 69 70 69 65 =273 (-11)
7 Connor Syme (Scotland) 67 68 70 69 =274 ( -10)
7 Ewen Ferguson, (Scotland) 69 67 70 68 =274 (-10)
9 Deon Germishuys, (South Africa) 71 66 69 69 =275 ( -9)
