Tourism Body Lifts Pros to South Africa

Olawale Ajimotokan

1 May 2011

Ten local professionals will be sponsored on a playing tour of South Africa in June courtesy of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), we gathered exclusively Saturday night.

Though the details around the trip are still being worked out, the Director General of the NTDC, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe disclosed that the tour would be used to brand the country as well as serve as a template to give the players international golf exposure.

Runsewe told us that the Nigerian players would have a swell time playing at designated golf courses in Durban.

Durbanis located in the northern coast of the KwaZulu Natal region, which is the No 1 tourism designation in South Africa.

It boasts of a number of top notch golf courses, including Durban Country Club, famed as South Africa’s best golf course where the SA Open is held and the jaw dropping Zimbali Lodge.

Instructively, the two venues are some of the venues of the MTN World Golfers Championship final billed for South Africa later in the year.

According to Runsewe, the tour of the Rainbow Nation at the expense of the NTDC is a dress rehearsal to the NTDC International Pro Classic which the corporation has tentatively said it would organise in Abuja in August.

It is not clear the yardstick the NTDC will use in selecting the 10 Nigerian professionals considering that the Order of Merit rating has remained the same since the end of last year as no official tournament has been held this year.

We, however, scooped that priority will be given to the leading players on the tour in addition a number of the professional golfers weaned at the Q School last year with potential to make the top grade in the near future.

Gboyega Oyebanji, Lateef Lasisi, Sunday J. Odegha and Martin Odoh are the top rated Nigerian professionals.

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