Olapade shines as Lakowe Lakes golf classic ends

The 9th Lakowe Lakes Golf Classic ended on Sunday with Osun state-born Sunday Olapade winning the 54-hole event with multiple awards.

Olapade, who is ranked as the second-best pro on the Professional Golfers’ Association of Nigeria order of merit, dominated in most segments of the three-day event.

His seven under score on the Mashy course trumped the field, beating Femi Olagbenro to the second place while the duo of Gift Willy and Oche Odoh were in joint third place with five under par apiece.

In the three days aggregated score for professionals on the championship course, Olapade again, shooting 73 (+1), 69 (-3) and 71(-1), led the field with three strokes margin, leaving Francis Epe and Kamalu Bako in the second and third place respectively.

“My game is in the right place now. I am scoring well and the layout and the standard of the Lakowe Lakes Golf Course have always fascinated me as I always look forward to playing it being the best course by far. So I think a number of factors came together for me and I am really honoured,” Olapade said.

In the team event that paired professionals and amateur players, Olapade’ s partnership with Peter Eben Spiff, Fatumata Soukouna Coker and Baxter Scott fetched a second place finish behind Kalamu Bako-led team that also had Vitus Ezenwa, Paul Watton and Ebruwiyor Omaruaye.

The classic featured top professional players across the country and international players from some West African countries.

Olagbenro, golf manager of the Lakowe Lakes Golf Estate, said the classic is part of activities designed to commemorate the facility’s anniversary.

He added that Mixta Africa, the parent company, is billed to expand the offering for all its clients.

“The Lakowe Lakes Golf Classic is one of the events among others titled “Escape to the Green” and this aims to create enough activities to satisfy the interest of golfers and non-golfers that make up the Lakowe Lakes Golf Estate Community,” Olagbenro said.

“This year, we had fishing, picnic, wine tasting, art auction, movie night, leadership talk and boat riding, among others.”