Top players from Kenya, Ghana, Cameroun, Namibia and Rwanda are among the over 100 players that have gathered at the Python Golf Club, Port Harcourt, to vie for honours in Nigeria Professional Golf Tour’s biggest purse event.
The seven-day tournament offers a whopping N22 million total prize purse for the professionals, who will begin their quest for honours on Wednesday.
The event started yesterday with the juniors, while the caddies will have their turn today. It will end on November 12, 2023.According to the Chief Executive Officer of Keves Global Leasing Limited, Chief Ikenna Okafor, whose company is bankrolling the event, it is the company’s contribution to the development of golf, a sport he believes should be at the root of rebuilding the moral structure of the African child.
“This is our effort in promoting the game of golf. The honesty, accountability, and self-discipline that the game promotes are core to the development of a great personality,” he said.
Okafor said that “our goal is to create a platform to expose and celebrate the leading professional golfers on the continent, and I must say some of the bests are in Nigeria. And we hope that this event will also become the biggest reward for their talents as well.”
He acknowledged that the junior members and caddies have been the most viable funnels for recruitment into the game, adding, “their involvement would deepen the reach into the demographics, with our strategic objective.”
Ikoyi-based defending champion of the event, Sunday Olapade, has already arrived at the par 72 Python Club, where he hopes to face some of the stiffest challenges on the Tour for the event.
The current leader of the Nigeria Tour, Francis Epe, Kamalu Bako of IBB International Golf and Country Club, Mike Ubi and Gift Willy from Python Club will be hoping to wrest the title as well, especially as opposition from top players across the continent strengthens.
They include Ghana’s Vincent Torgah, Nelson Mudanyi from Kenya, Ronald Rugumayo from Rwanda, and Paulino Kasoma from Namibia. The event will wind-up with the closing round of the professionals 72-hole contest, and amateur players final play on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
