Organisers of the maiden Meristem Open golf tournament on Tuesday confirmed the participation of players from Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire and Zimbabwe in the event billed for the Lakowe Lakes Golf Estate in Lagos.
The tournament is expected to hold from January 26 to 28 with N10 million as prize money.
Femi Olagbenro, golf manager at the Lakowe facility, said the organisers reckoned Nigeria’s modest pedigree in golf over the years before deciding to invite the foreign players for the three-day event where 83 professional players and category one amateurs would compete for over 56 holes.
“Other amateur ranks have also been invited to give the tournament a broad outlook befitting an inaugural event,” Olagbemiro said.
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On its part, Meristem Securities Limited, the tournament sponsor, said its resolve was borne of a corporate social responsibility that aimed to help budding golfing talent in Nigeria flourish.
Wole Abegunde, the company’s group managing director, recalled the past exploits of the country’s amateur golfers like Peter Akakasiaka who was the first African to qualify for the British Open in 1987, as well as Lateef Lasisi, the late Paul Odoh, late Ali Abdullahi, late Christian Godfrey, and Oche Odoh — all of who attained their dreams through corporate support.
“We are confident that the new professional golf development tour that this tournament aims to launch can be a platform upon which the best talents would fly,” Abegunde said.
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Adefemi Taiwo, head of brand and corporate communications, also said: “Nigeria’s athleticism, industry, and sporting talent have long been evident in golf and this is what we desire to emphasise while helping the competitors to bring value and honour to all stakeholders and encouraging those who wish to re-write history to do so.”
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