The President of the Nigeria Golf Federation, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has commended the effort of the government of Kwara State in developing the game of golf.
He also praised the sponsors, Sterling Bank Plc, for putting in so much to boost the standard of golf in Nigeria.
Oyinlola said at the closing round of the Kwara Open that, ” I like to refer to His Excellency (Gov Abdufattah Ahmed) as a late starter in golf but I must say he has done very well in contributing to the development of the game.”
He said that the game would reach far more people than it presently is, if more investment in the mode of Kwara’s model is adopted.
“The winner of the Professional round, Sunday Olapade was a boy that stumbled on the game by virtue of the MicCom golf facility that was build in Ada, Engineer Tunde Ponnle; where he lived. Today he’s ranked number two in Nigeria and he beat the best players to pick the professional’s winning purse,” the golf federation boss noted, adding that Kwara State was toeing the same path for its youths with events like this.
An elated Governor Ahmed also said he was happy with the honour given to him as the Vice-president at the Kwara Open. He praised the organisers and sponsors, Sterling Bank.’
Sunday Olapade, winner of the professional round said his victory was a dream come true and he has a lot of people to thank for it. He won the lion share of N5m purse at the Open shooting a brilliant 277, eleven under par over 72 holes at the Ilorin Golf Club.
He beat Ghana’s Emos Korblah by five shots to the send place while Lagos based Chidi Tobias tied Abuja based Oche Odoh for the third place.
Some of the dignitaries that graced the occasion include; the Senior Regional Manager Sterling Bank, Ademola Adeyemi, the Director of PGA of Nigerian, Mr. Samson Lawal and the Captain Ilorin Golf Club, Olayiwola Abdulmalik.
