TheCable

The second edition of the Acutech Pro-Am Golf Championship will tee off at Ikeja Golf Club in Lagos on Monday, signalling the start of the 2024 professional golf season in Nigeria.

With a total purse of N15 million at stake, the country’s topmost professionals and a few others from outside Nigeria assembled at the host course over the weekend aiming to make an early impression on the 2024 ranking while still targeting winning laurels.

Ghana’s Emos Korblah, the winner of the 2023 edition, said after his practice round on Sunday, he looks forward to defending the championship.

“Ikeja Golf Club is one golf course that is highly underrated but it challenges every bit of your golfing skill. The fairway design and several factors will be at play this year and I look forward to defending my title,” Korblah said.

The trio of former Nigeria’s number one players, Francis Epe, Oche Odoh and Mike Ubi would also feature as the the 56-hole event gets off.

Uche Ezebuiro, the operations director of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA), said the body is continually working with willing corporate bodies to develop the sport and showcase the best of Nigeria’s golf talents.

“This year, in the bid to align our body and operations to global best practices, we are making some efforts to afford our members a better professional golf experience. Acutech is one of our topmost development partners, and we look forward to having others on board this season,” he said.

Zed Jituboh, the chairman of Acutech Support Systems Limited, said the event is part of the company’s policy of investment in sports development.

“We have created this platform to help drive the development of golf in Nigeria with the aim to expose and reward talents. As we partner with professional golf to run this championship, we also look forward to expanding the dividends in the years ahead,” he said.