EMMANUEL Ruterana does not have to be reminded that he can only start dreaming about the cash in the lucrative Kenya Open Golf Championship after making the cut at the Par-71 Muthaiga golf course.

The highly-billed tournament, which also counts as a regular round on the European Challenge Tour, swings into action this morning with over 150 golfers from Europe, South America, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda.

The professional golfer, who is flying Rwanda’s flag in Nairobi, yesterday told Kigali Golf Club (KGC)’s Secretary General Davis Kashaka that he was very conscious of the redesigned course.

"He sounded confident and ready for the action although he was quick to point out that the course was a challenging one.”

"There is a lot of rough so it is difficult to keep the ball on the fairway,” the official said.

In 2008, the 26-year-old, who will have Jean Baptist Hakizimana as his caddie over the next four days, narrowly missed out on the cut. Ruterana’s trip was jointly sponsored by Ernst & Young, RwandAir and Tele-10.

The 190,000 euro (approx. Rwf 147.5m) tournament has been part of the European Challenge Tour since 1991.
Of the 150 golfers, only half will make the cut after two of the four rounds.

Some of the tournament’s past winners include Severiano Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam, Ken Brown, Christy O’Connor Jnr and South Africa’s Trevor Immelman.

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