Golf: Lakowe Lakes Classic increases winning purse

Lakowe Lakes Golf Club in Lagos is set to host competitors for the ninth edition of its flagship event next weekend with new upgrades for the pro-am.

Speaking on Sunday, Femi Olagbenro, the golf manager of the facility, said for the first time the event would be played over three days for the golf professionals.

“Being a Pro-Am, it is a strategic tool to galvanize different levels of social interaction represented in the sport. So, expanding it to invite top professional players across the continent is our own way of raising the competitiveness and increasing the number of events of this caliber on Nigeria’s golfing calendar,” Olagbenro said.

The prize purse of the professionals has also been raised to N10 million and they are billed to tee off the event on September 30 for a 54-holes contest that runs into October 2.

The Lakowe Lakes Academy Junior Golf Skill challenge for secondary schools in the vicinity is scheduled for the nine-hole par 3 course on Friday while amateur players would compete on Saturday with a round on the par 3 course also.

The Lakowe Lakes Golf Classic is part of the 18 different events under the second edition of “Escape to the Greens”, an engagement and adoption project for non-golfing guests to the Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate and to showcase its lifestyle offering.

Onome Umukoro of Mixta Africa, the parent company for the golf facility, said that “Escape to the Greens”, born out of necessity, was designed mostly to satiate the interest of the huge number of guests that have associated with the weekend of golf at the estate.

“We designed the event to meet the interest of the non-golfers that has come to find the estate and the golf facility a second home, especially when the Lakowe Lakes Golf Classic is being played,” Umukoro said.

“The Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate has its unique character that cannot be fully explored in one weekend of fun, so the “Escape to the Greens” is to give our guests the pleasure of full immersion into the carefully designed lifestyle of Lakowe Lakes.”

Organisers said stage drama, art and craft, leadership chat, picnic, and “Par-Tee” with the pros are other events lined up for the competition while the Classic would be rounded off with an award presentation on Sunday after 54-holes of play for both professionals and amateurs, although activities for “Escape to the Greens” run till October 3.