Francis Epe was at his imperial best at the Aba Sports Club, Golf Section, where he beat the field to win the maiden Oris Group Open Golf Championship. Nojeem Sofela and Bola Mustapha were also in splendid form as they took the Senior Tour and women’s titles respectively.
At the championship which ended on Friday, Epe shot 14-under par after 72 holes over four days to dust his challengers.
From day one, it was 70, 67, 67, 70 respectively for the Ikoyi Golf Club’s player to amass a gross of 274, beating his closest rival Vincent, Ghana’s Torgah with three shorts.
The Ghanaian shot 11-under par over the four days (71, 71, 65, 70) with a gross of 277 to retain the second spot he claimed from legendary Andrew Oche Odoh, who shot eight-under par.
Odoh, incidentally, started the championship on a flying note on day one, but could not sustain the tempo, hence, the former serial winner dropped gradually from 68, 69, 70, 73 in that order.
Home favourite and one of the resident professionals of the Aba Golf Club, Stanley Omenuko, fondly called MSC by fans, was fourth on four-under par; he shot 70, 73, 69, 71 with a gross of 284.
Speaking after the championship, Epe said, “I won because I was focused; when I make a mistake on one hole, I tried to correct it in the next hole… I didn’t allow my first mistake to weigh me down; I moved on with my game with the focus and courage to win and avoid distractions.”
In the Senior Tour, Sofela recreated a stellar performance, shooting eight-over par in the 54-hole battle. He played 75, 73, 76 to gross 224 for the title; while early leader and home-boy, Kingsley Oparaku, ended up third on 11-over par.
Jude Idakwoji, who ended up in second position with 9-over par and was leading on day two, could not match the skills of Sofela on the final day.
In the women’s class, hot shot, Mustapha of Ikoyi Golf Club, Lagos, led from day one to finish on 31-over par after three days. She played 79, 84, 84 and a gross of 247, while Amina Wilfred was second on 38-over par and Favour Efenedo was third on 40-over par, all in three days.
The amateur event, which started on Friday, wrapped up the weeklong Pro-Am yesterday.
