China's Wu Ashun to defend DP World tour Kenya Open title

NAIROBI, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The DP World Tour returns to Nairobi's Muthaiga Golf Club as a three-event African swing gets underway with the Magical Kenya Open on Thursday.

China's Wu Ashun is set to defend his title while Marcel Siem and Antoine Rozner join Rafa Cabrera Bello and Robert MacIntyre in the field for the event where the prize money has been increased to 2 million U.S. dollars.

The 37-year-old Wu enhanced his record as China's most successful player on the DP World Tour when he fired a six under par final round of 66 to win his fourth title by four strokes at the same course last year.

Wu has enjoyed a strong start to the 2023 Race to Dubai, making the weekend in six of his seven appearances this season, with his best finish coming on African soil at the Investec South African Open Championship in December - finishing in a share of ninth.

Set to join Wu in the field in the Kenyan capital are two-time DP World Tour winner MacIntyre, the Tour's most recent victor Siem, who returned to the winner's circle for the first time in five years with his win at the Hero Indian Open and the Spanish pair of Adri Arnaus and Bello.

Arnaus was runner-up to Guido Migliozzi in 2019 when the event was part of the Challenge Tour at Nairobi's Karen Country Club and finished in a share of eighth at last year's tournament at Muthaiga.

The tournament has also received a further boost as Absa Bank Kenya was announced as the Official Presenting Partner of the Magical Kenya Open, with an investment of 562,000 dollars for this year's event.

The commitment marks a 12-year association with Kenya Open Golf Limited which organizes the event.