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Plans are underway by Sahara Golf Tour, a golf tour operator, to organise three major professional golf tournaments this year.

Oye Onwuka, the
Executive Chairman of the company, said yesterday in Lagos, that his
organisation is set to midwife, “the great marriage of Golf and
Business”. “The game of golf in Nigeria has been played over the years
at the amateur level and to a reasonable extent, professionally,” he
said. “That Nigeria is not on the golf map today is clearly fallout of
years of lack of leadership, strategic direction and serious financial
support from corporate sponsors, unlike as is the case in the western
world. Professional golf tournaments in Nigeria has before now, been
positioned more as a recreational sport with the unattractive prize
money involved in this part of the world. It is so unattractive that
famous international golfers and even large corporate and multinational
organisations find it unworthy to participate at a serious level in
professional golf events in the country.”

Mega bucks

To remedy the
situation, Onwuka says Sahara Golf Tour, in conjunction with The
Sunshine Tour of South Africa, the Professional Golfers Association of
South Africa, and the Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria, will
organise the Independence Cup, the Royal Cup Classic and the Breast
Cancer Awareness Pro-Am tournaments. He said the Independence Cup,
which will be held in October this year to commemorate Nigeria’s
freedom from colonial rule in 1960, will not only be the first to tee
off but will also have the biggest prize money. Participants in this
category will battle for the $1million purse, which he said is likely
to attract top golfers from outside Nigeria.

He said the Royal
Cup Classic and the Breast Cancer Awareness Pro-Am tournaments would
have purses of $500,000 and $250,000 respectively. “We are in this for
the long haul, which will see us including golf development as part of
our programmes,” he said. “Our partners from South Africa, along with
corporate Nigeria, will form a formidable team that will see Nigeria
producing young golfers who will earn a living playing the game of
golf.”

Also speaking at the event, Dennis Bruyns, the Chief Executive
Officer of CEO of Professional Golfers Association of South Africa,
said his organisation is partnering with Sahara Golf tour because it
feels that Nigeria has a lot of potential in the game. “If the game is
properly organised, Nigeria will become a top golfing nation in the
world,” he said.